I collect varieties of these plants. LOVE them. They're good greenhouse subjects, great outdoor plants in my zone -- esp in shaded areas, but not so wonderful (at least in my experience) as houseplants.

Hummm.....I grew them in the ground in a droughty root infested area and they did alright. After about 5 years the root competition got to be too much for them so I dug them up and potted them up last spring. I thought I was doing them a favor. They actually did pretty well for a couple of months and then suddenly the plants wilted and died. Even one that a friend gave me that had always been in a pot did the same thing. This friend suggested damping off disease, but I thought mature plants didn't suffer from that disease. Have you had any similar experience with yours?

I've never had any disease-related problems with these plants. However, you've got to be really VERY vigilant about watering potted Ligularias/Farfugiums. They begin to droop the instant moisture falls below a certain point. If you water them in time, they recover very rapidly. If you don't get water to them in time, it's 'curtains' in fairly short order -- esp if the temp is high. Without more info, it sounds to me as tho your plants might have died of thirst.

Conversely, they need very good drainage (esp as potted plants) -- if they don't have it, they can 'drown' fairly rapidly.

Thank you for your insight. I have a tendency to overwater if anything, but didn't know they were that picky about drought, which could have occured to the one overwintering in my garage. I kind of loose track of time during winter. Or of course I could have overwatered them. There really aren't any more symptoms to describe. The leaves were upright one day, the next they started to droop and on the third day they were all hanging over the edge of the pot. Watering didn't perk them up which is why I suspected overwatering. I've got more coming mail order this spring (including the green/white variegated one which I killed last year along with the regular yellow spotted ones), so I may try a terra cotta pot on some to see if that helps. I sooooo want these to make it. Love them.