Crinum 'Thai \yellow' Lights up a Dark Spot in the North Court of the Admin Building at the US National Arboretum

This is not one of those crinums that you can plant deep and sneak through a 7a or 6b winter. if you have the space though, it's worth bedding out for the season and digging in the fall to winter over inside.Brad has been carrying these over for a few years now and they've grown to the point of magnificence.

The thing about tender tropicals is that you need to be able to cut them loose. A year comes when you just don't care enough to bring them in. The thrill is gone. The initial infatuation turns to indifference' you begin to resent the effort it takes to dig and move and the greenhouse space... Euthanasia by cold. Brutal, but then you grow something different for a few years and maybe the flame rekindles, you know what you're doing the next time and maybe you get back together again. .

Plant Schizophragma hydrangeoides, wait 45 years, and Wow! (at the U S National Arboretum)

Thes plant came from a John Creech collection 45 years ago. It is are growing in the Asian Collections just at the edge of the Japanese Woodland where it abuts the Camellia Collection. If I'd been 50 feet tall I could have stood back and photographed the entirety of the vine. It 's more than three times as tall as the portion in the photograph. This is the most impressive I can remember it.