Gardens North has such great seeds, Tiffy, I'm lucky if I can limit myself to under 3 figures. This time I got the arum italicum, hyacinthoides non-scripta (I've been a nutcase ever since I got back from the UK), Meconopsis Lingholm (I should give up on the blankety-blank blue poppies, but hope springs eternal), and chelone glabra. I could have ordered 4 to the 4th power - love Gardens North!

I thought I'd update the situation here on the Central West NSW frontline. Quite by chance, I adopted from last winter the strategy suggested by Katherine D immediately above. As I enter the second winter of the campaign I am finding a lot less plants coming up and because the soil in the flower beds has been turned over lifting the plants complete with corms is straightforward. One thing I have found is that the plant is extremely resilient. As I dug up arums last winter I put them into used plastic animal feed bags which I left out in the sun. Over the summer we had +40 deg C days and low humidity and in my innocence, I thought that would do the plants and corms in. Come the late autumn I started burning the contents of the bags in the fire pit and lo and behold there were corms sprouting happily away. And even after exposure to the flame, they had to be in the very hot part of the pit to ensure their destruction. One final note: our local Agricultural show here in Canowindra is held in spring. In fact it is more than just sheep and the big money local crop, lucerne, there's a horticultural section too. Taking in the prize-winning exhibits last year my eye fell upon one "highly commended" potted specimen, a ''beautiful'' arum. I wrote to the PA&H Show Society to complain that they were encouraging the cultivation of a noxious weed and a threat to pastures. They acknowledged my letter. It remains to be seen if they can the class for arums this year.

I'm not familiar with them. Just wondering if you could you store them in a cool protected area of your garage or even you fridge? Until your soil is ready. Great looking plants. http://store.yahoo.com/hostafarm/aritp.html Cheryl

Yes, I grow it!! I live in Arlington, with wonderful sandy/loam soil. It comes up in Feb and will last till about now. The only thing left right now in my flower bed is the seed head it formed. It comes up and is green and then as the fruit/seeds mature, there is a wonderful orangey/red color. After this you will not see it again till next Feb. I hope this helps.........David in Arlington P.S. Morning sun or light shade is best