Not that she needs me to, but I can vouch for the accuracy of Lacyvail's info. I recently cut a chunk of baptisia from my sister's garden. It was not a precise surgical operation - more of a brutal hack job. I jumped on the shovel multiple times as hard as I could, and pried and ripped until eventually I had maybe eight stems with only scant roots left. I put them in a plastic grocery bag with a little soil and water and forgot about them for a few days. Hoping that at least one would survive, I cut the stems off close to the roots and potted them up with some compost and potting mixture. A month later, they are doing great with many thick green shoots coming up. Even the ones with no discernible roots left seem to have thrived. Pretty amazing. ThinMan

Wow. You almost have to, don't you? Ask the butterfly peeps maybe? http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/butterfly

As for the beer and slugs . . . I've done this and it works, but you have to put the beer in shallow dishes, like pie pans, trays from microwave meals, etc. They aren't going to crawl up a bottle. Also, the beer is only good for a day or two. I guess slugs don't like flat beer. I decided beer is too expensive a method, even using cheap beer. It only works in the area where the saucer of beer is located. Slugs aren't going to travel very far to get to the beer. Anyway, the most cost effective method is to go out at night around 9:00 pm with a flash light hand pick them. Yes it's gross, but I can collect more by hand than I will ever find in a saucer of beer. I also found that my real problem is snails. I collected a lot more snails than slugs from my plants. I think that is because toads eat slugs, but they don't eat snails (at least mine don't). I have a lot of toads in my yard so I don't want to use any baits that may harm them. You will see essentially the same leaf damage from snails and slugs, but as I said, I actually collected a lot more snails than slugs when I started hand picking. Good luck. It is a never ending battle.

Alliums can be rather pricey so folks do not part with them much. But if you do not find some keep an eye out next spring by looking at Brecks. Com I found a good deal on some and they are shipping out to me this week. All alliums ship in the fall. I just looked at their site and they have a few deals of buy one and get one free. Several of their selections are already sold out now. Even if someone sent you seeds from the crown of theirs I hear it can take three years for the bulb to reach maturity. If you request their catalog they will send you postcards throughout the year for these extra bargain sales. That's how I found the deal on mine. Good luck in your search.