Any advice for taking the LC out of the "barn" area? the ground has a lot of gravel/rocks in it and judging by the greens alone, the bulbs must be so close together. I have read that it is best to try and dig them after the foliage has died down a some in late spring, and before they bloom later in the summer. I would think that late May or sometime early to mid June would be the best time. I'd suggest you maybe using a heavy long handled pick-ax, mattock, or grubbing hoe, and once you get started digging at the end of the walk, swing it, trying to get deep and under the bulbs. You will then probably have to pry them up to get the roots to release. Your local hardware store should have one of the above mentioned tools if you don't already have one (or more). Is it possible that these bulbs were planted a hundred years ago (ish) and never divided? the poor babies... I guess it is possible...yes, poor babies. I know these are expensive bulbs to buy, You are right...they sell for $14.95 for ONE(!!!) bulb at Bulbmeister $10.99 for a quart pot at Lazy S Farm $8.25 for one bulb at Old House Gardens $14.00 at Plant Delights-no count mentioned-probably just one bulb $10.50 at Touch of Nature $28.00 for 5 at Brant and Becky's and they are sold out. $15.95 for 3 at Whiteflower Farm...plus shipping of course on top of those prices. but does anyone ever want to trade for them? Yes, they are very tradeable, and you should be able to get some very nice things for them. I pretty well don't trade them anymore because of no one really offering things that were of equal 'value' for them, because they were not aware of what they actually cost to buy, or just figured because I grew them that they were 'like' free' from me. They also did not realize how expensive postage would be to mail my end of the bulbs. Trading one nice sized bulb, imho, should get you a fan of a nice named daylily, or a fan of a nice named iris, or some named daffodils per one bulb traded or other nice plants. Be aware too that if/when you trade them, the cost of postage you will have on your end of a trade. Once you know a traders address, or just their zip code, you can go to the Mail Zone chart to see what mail zone they are from you. You can then go to Priority Mail Prices to see what it would cost for postage by the LB to the different mail zones. Most, if not everyone east of the Mississippi, is in mail zones 4 or less from you and me here in IN. Since the bulbs are so big and heavy, when trading, you might consider using the Flat Rate Boxes, and costs for those are shown at the link above. A cheap digital postage scale is a valuable aid in packing plants, bulbs, and even seeds for trading. Scales are usually available on ebay for less than $20 and that includes shipping. Oh...one last thing. I think maybe that some embers don't realize that these are a lot more expensive that other Lycoris that are not nearly as hardy and that are a lot less expensive. If, when you trade them, you might want to include a link to one of the places I linked to above, so they know just how costly they are to purchase them. Stick a fork in me...I'm done and heading out to play. Sue Here is a link that might be useful: scales like these on ebay...shipping is $16.88 but the scale price is right!

They may or may not bloom for you in 2007. Lycoris squamigera is not especially fond of being moved, especially after the bloom when they just spent stored energy to blooms and now have to grow new roots. In any event, don't be discouraged if next August you'll not see as many blooms as you wish to. Bulbs are there, settled, growing and working on a 'surprise' for the next year.

I have a nice piece of the Polypodium growing in my terrarium (I've had it for about a year now). It is slowly spreading, and it looks great. I tried placing this in a few areas of my terrarium, mounting it on the back wall, placing it in the substrate . . etc. (I had a 1 foot x 1 foot piece to cut up and play with, and I sent most of it to another GW member in a more southern zone). I found that the pieces on the back wall just weren't getting enough moisture (even at 80% + humidity and daily misting). However, the piece that was placed on top of the substrate by my waterfall (constantly moist) is thriving. My substrate is a mix of 1/4 and 1/2 inch coco husk chips mixed with about 10% activated charcoal. An interesting note: the old pieces of bark/fern roots are now (8 months later) sprouting another type of fern. It's too young to identify yet, but we'll see if it is the Polyploides or another genus/species.

In general, they're almost foolproof. In fact, my aunt is in war with lycoris squamigera (the most common old fashioned one)..and since I'm starting to see seedlings appearing in the lawn, despite my efforts to deadhead, I'm beginning to agree with her. Plant them, let the foliage grow, and leave them alone is the best recipe for success. They don't tolerate overly dry or overly wet, though dry is better than sopping wet. They DO not like being transplanted and actually don't like dry storage (but tough they are). Here, it doesn't matter how deep you plant them...they do fine with the neck barely buried or six inches down.