Good luck with that plan, Jim, and be sure to let us know how it turns out. I’ve had my share of bad experiences with poorly handled bulbs of Fritillaria imperialis over the years. I’ve received dead bulbs, crushed bulbs, dry mummified bulbs – what a bother. Requests for replacement bulbs from some of these dealers were promptly fulfilled with more dead, crushed or mummified bulbs. One supplier simply ignored my plight after the first replacement – evidently they thought their responsibility was to supply a replacement, alive or dead. However, there is one supplier who has never let me down: the John Scheepers Co. Over the years (I’ve been buying from them on and off for close to fifty years) I have occasionally received a bad bulb, but requests for replacements were promptly honored with live bulbs. The Fritillaria imperialis they sent in the fall of 2006 were packed in small cardboard boxes and cushioned with excelsior. The bulbs were heavy, blemish free and had incipient roots; they went on to grow and bloom. What more can you ask? What I’m trying to say is that my experience suggests that it isn’t necessary to get bulbs in August. Even if I could get freshly dug bulbs now, I certainly don’t think it would be a good idea to plant a bulb of this species into the damp, hot soil of a Maryland summer. Missouri can't be much different. North Europeans are in a hurry to plant these bulbs in August because their fall and early winter are apt to be dull, wet and cold: hardly good weather to be out digging and hardly good conditions for plants trying to get rooted before the onset of winter. In my experience, properly stored bulbs from a supplier who knows what he is doing give impeccable first year results. The rest is up to you. I’m posting this response to both the PBS forum and Alpine-L. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where we just had an improbably late and successful lily show. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/