I have wanted to try some of these for years. There's a lot of shade in my yard, and I love bright color in Fall: whatever I can get that will show through fallen leaves is likely to be aces with me. [grin] A month ago, I purchased small starters: two each of two different varieties. I gave them a little peat and chicken manure, because I've read that they like acidic soil. They are in two different locations. (Both get some morning sun in Spring, but less sun later on as the trees leaf out.) It's only in the last week or so that I've seen any new growth on them, but I'm optimistic. I was also warned that slugs regard them as the caviar of the plant kingdom, so I've been keeping traps near both areas. (I've seen a few nibbles of the lower leaves, but nothing serious.) Wish me luck! :) This post was edited by ms_xeno on Tue, May 6, 14 at 15:53

Plant Delights Nursery has a long list of toad lilies. I attached the web site. I searched the site under the latin name, trycirtis, took 3 tries since I always mispell it. LOL I assume that this is what you meant by toad lily, if not, please ignore the rest of this post. I don't have much expertise growing toad lilies, but can tell you my experience. Last year I bought 3 different toad lilies from my local garden center, Empress, Amethystina, & Tojen. I planted 2 of them in a very heavily shaded spot under a low growing crab apple tree and one along my side yard pathway (east side of house) with light until about 1 p.m in summer and somewhat wetter & more open conditions. All of them grew nicely and 2 of them bloomed that year in the fall. Empress (on the east side) bloomed the best and Tojen in the heavy shade bloomed a few blooms. Amethystina, which was also in heavy shade, did not bloom. However, only 2 of them wintered over, the two in heavy dry shade. This year the two that wintered over put out quite a few flowering stems and bloomed all along each stem in very nice sprays. Both of them, however, turned out to be Tojen, a T. hirta variety, which I have read is somewhat hardier. Caveat: Even the "dry shade" under my crab apple tree is heavy clay, which retains water, softened with heavy leaf litter each year. Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Delights

You have bareroot plants? They are in full bloom here right now. "Toad lilies grow from new growth points that develop along the roots and will spread underground to form a colony with each new growth point forming a stem. These growth tips should be planted about 2 to 3" below the soil and then should be mulched 1 to 2" after planting." They require a moist soil that drains well (that means a lot of organic content/compost). This is a cool summer area - if allowed to dry out or planted where exposed to wind, even here the foliage will look bad enough by bloom time the effect of the flowers is completely lost. I hand water mine a few times during summer in addition to the regular drip irrigation they get along with the rest of that bed.

Hi Blueang I have my Toad Lily in part sun and it is growing well and blooming beautifully. It is fun to have a fall blooming plant. I live in Zone 4 and my plant is multiplying and remaining healthy, even tho the bunnies got it early in the season this year. It has recovered and looks like it will bloom well again. I would say it has tripled in size in the 2 years I have had it. Good Luck! mel in MN