For the record, this old lady DOES have a strong back, and DID dig her own crinums. :-) This is a slight departure from bulbs, but related in this context: my all-time favorite tool for digging recalcitrant crinums and similar is the mattock, or grub hoe. I don't know when it went out of common circulation, but it is hands-down the best tool for tough digging jobs that I know. You can generate a whole lot more force by lifting a blade high and then whacking it down than you can by digging and prying, and you break a whole lot fewer handles that way too. Fortunately, I live in an area where small-scale farming flourished thorugh the 1920s or so, and used mattocks can generally be found, albeit not at every garage sale. Ellen Ellen Hornig Seneca Hill Perennials 3712 County Route 57 Oswego NY 13126 USA http://www.senecahillperennials.com/