Susie, as northerner said, the lilies will freeze if you leave them in pots above ground over the winter. Are you sure that the bulbs rotted because of the soil being too damp? As you said, the bulbs have been there for 10 years. Has anything changed that would cause more moisture, such as a large tree or a hedge that was removed? If not, I doubt it's because of wet conditions. If you say that you had squirrels eating the shoots, the bulbs might still be there. Have you checked? Is there another place in your garden you could bury the pots over the winter, like a vegetable patch where they might be safe from squirrels? You could keep them there while the shoots are still tender enough to be appetizing for squirrels and other rodents like rabbits and mice or voles. and then move them. I lost a lot of my lilies last year to voles who ate the emerging shoots and some other creature that dug up the bulbs. I got some new bulbs at a good price a while ago and what I did was loosely wrap some chicken wire around each bulb before planting them in pots. I'll bury the pots in the vegetable garden soon. In springtime, I'll remove the bulbs from the pots and plant them in their designated spot. I'll bury a piece of chicken wire a few inches deep in the ground above the bulbs so squirrels can't dig them up and I'll be protecting the emerging shoots with crates or maybe those wire wastepaper baskets you get at the dollar store, or maybe just by throwing a nylon net over them. Seems like a lot of work, but if you're a lily lover like me, you know it's worth it.

Dawn, I appreciate the concern. Like you said it really was a dangerous system but died almost as quick as it built up. If you looked at it on animation on radar less than 30 minutes after it showed up as a green speck there was lots of red and tornadoes. And 45 minutes after that it was dead. It was one if you had looked out and didn't see anything and waited 15 minutes it was close. By the time the weather services got the warning out it was staring to lose strength. I don't blame them as it built so fast no way to anticipate it. As far as I know the one that touched down was over open ground and didn't hurt anything. Will hear more tomorrow I'm sure. We never got more than a few sprinkles out of all of it. Looks like some decent rain east and north of us. One thing for certain is we are a day closer to when it will come. But missing so many good chances starts getting a little depressing. Thanks again for the concern and advice. At times during dry spells we don't respect weather enough. Jay

tomato: I was at the Briar Patch earlier this summer, and they are now a part of my regular "nursery tour" which also includes DeHaans' in Middleton. I purchased a T fortunei and a Black Magic Taro from them. I already have the Musa basjoo and bamboo, but was tempted to purchase more. I also bought what they claimed was a Canna "Stuttgart", but sadly is not. I'm in Halifax, so if you ever want to see the garden (I have a lot crammed into a small space) drop by.....before it gets cold.

spiced, I do know that there were dark colored varieties here in the US back in the mid to late 1800's. At another site there's a long discussion about the variety True Black Brandywine and Tom Wagner also contributed some info about known maroon, dark colored varieties present here in the US long ago, and maybe not that long ago. I can't transfer that thread here b'c GW doesn't allow for other message sites to be posted here and in transferring it it's ASAP known b'c of the formatting, which is different than here. Keith, you've also showed pictures of dark colored accessions from the Rick Center. Do you know where they were from? I know, I know, I could go look but you know the PGRC site so much better than I do that you could do it much quicker. Speaking to just one comment made in an above post, Craig LeHoullier got the variety now known as Cherokee Purple from J D. Green of TN and it had no name. John had told Craig that the woman he got it from said that it had been grown by the Cherokee. Craig just used the info he was given and at firat called it Cherokee Brick Red, which unfortunately is still listed in the SSE YEarbook, and then changed the name to Cherokee Purple. All attempts for John to track down the lady who gave him him the seeds have failed, so no other info is known. At yet another message site a woman from NC said she had seeds directly from some local Cherokee and was offering seeds. I'm growing it out this summer as is Craig, but not holding my breath b'c she also says she has the only this and that variety as an original, which I know to not be true. Oh well. I would hope that some of the researchers could look at some of the black accessions from the PGRC, b/c it might be useful. When I have time I'll try to transfer here at least the names of the dark colored varieties known from the early to mid 1800's, but alas, I think all of them are now extinct, but were described in various publications, some of which were cited in that thread elsewhere. To me it's perfectly possible that what the Cherokee were growing could well have been one of those dark colored varieties known to be in the US in the 1800's. Additionally, as spiced has already mentioned, it was the Spanish who first distibuted seeds, from Mexico, to the Caribbean and Spain and also to the Phillipines, all on their trading routes at the time, which introduces yet another slant to this interesting story. The Crimean region has long been thought to be the source of the original dark colored varieties, and I think that's up for reconsideration as well. Right now I'm in my medieval mystery reading mode but can switch ASAP to any tomato mystery mode quickly, and have. LOL Carolyn