Ellen's comment on ample summer water for Eucomis is very important. If too dry in summer they will soon dwindle and never flower. Our very wet summer has been much appreciated by my plants in the ground here, but with the general lack of warmth they have not ripened any seed and we had a stiff frost last night to put paid to the ripening process. Also good nourishment helps, as with most bulbs. I find that it is very important to keep pot-grown bulbs very dry, undisturbed in their growing pots so that they don't desiccate too badly (the roots are more or less perennial) and just above freezing. Too damp & they're apt to rot, especially when young. I have come to regard most Eucomis as hardy here & don't lift anything once it's planted in the ground. So far so good, but we haven't had persistent penetrating frost for a while. When I was in Holland we lifted the bulbs each year but escapees survived, even E. vandermerwei in wet peat after several hard freezes, although I wouldn't risk my entire stock in that way! John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP