I've been going through old gardening magazines looking for gardening projects I remember seeing in them. I happened to come across an article discussing bulbs. The lady that wrote the article has acreage and plants 1000s' of bulbs every fall. To give you an idea as to the amount of bulbs she plants one year she ordered 3500 bulbs in one fall, fortunately she can buy wholesale since she is a garden consultant. To date when the article was printed she had planted over 22 000 bulbs on her property. (I wish I could have that many, it would amazing.) Anyways, getting off topic here. She says concerning winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), she planted 1000 with the expectation that about 200 would survive and flower the following spring. Winter aconites are small tubers that tend to desiccate and die in the process of drying, shipping, and waiting for sale and planting. She tries to obtain them as early as possible (so don't wait for them to go on sale), then soaks the tubers overnight in damp peat moss and then plants promptly. Doing this only a quarter survive. Then she relies on them growing and producing seed to multiply. So, that could be the reason why yours didn't come up. I'd try them again and do her suggestion of soaking them before you plant. I'll still try and remember to let you know if mine make it. I'm hoping mine didn't dry out since they were only out of the ground for a week or so. Syreeta

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. Now just need to find time to organise the plants underneath it. There is enough room to get some of the main collection currently round the other side of the house under it also. This will give me a bit more room to move around there. ( Who am I kidding! With more due any day from Fransens, Hosta Valley and Coolplants it will soon fill again ) I've got seedlings waiting to be pricked out, bigger ones waiting for potting up and half the main collection never got potted up either. I think the main collection will just have to be top dressed with slow release fertilizer granules and maybe pot them up come autumn. All that and a lot of other work/projects around the place there is no time for sitting around here! Denis, the netting is mainly cable tied or stapled to the frame and the plan was to release enough of it to drop it down to prevent snow accumulation. Jo, I work cheap. Just the air fair and food and lodgings and I will be at your door in a flash ready and willing! Dave

I change up a large painting in my living room, from Spring/Summer to Fall/Winter, My mother inherited an original oil painting, from a friend of hers who was a very talented artist. I in turn, inherited it from her. It's a painting of the artist's log cabin and surrounding property in Vermont. He painted it in the late afternoon in Winter. The sky is crimson and full of clouds of varying shades. The cabin is covered in snow and violet smoke is coming from the chimney. The trees and field are also snow covered, so this painting captures the beauty and essence of Winter. I also have an oil painting of a beautiful scene in Summer. It is of a terra cotta terrace overlooking the Mediterranean, with large pots of vividly colored flowers, and Wisteria hanging from the arched roof. A hilly coastline, which is dotted with white houses with tile roofs is in the distance. It's very colorful and makes me feel like I'm in a little villa in Greece, whenever I look at it. As I only have room to display one in my living room, I display the Summer painting every April and change it to the Winter one every October. I hang the 'off season' painting in my bedroom, so it can still be enjoyed!

They come in a variety of colors: Fosteriana tulips. They also perennialize very well, much like the Darwins.