I had a couple of awesome drifts of "Black Diamond" EE's last summer around my pool. They really added to the tropical vibe in the backyard. I had purchased the plants at the end of the season in '09 from Lowes - they were dumping them cheap. The first winter I nursed them along in their pots in the house. They didn't look great, all leggy and sorry looking, but they responded just fine when I planted them in the spring. Last fall I decided to dig them up and try to store the bare bulbs. I dried them out for a couple weeks, but they were still full of moisture. I put them in cardboard boxes anyway with sphaghum peat moss and placed them in the garage. I just checked them today and much to my dissapointment, nearly every one was rotted.

So the question is - What did I do wrong? Should I have left them unpacked? And also, I'd like to get my hands on a goodly number of black EE (Black Diamond or Black Magic) bulbs or plants at good price this year to try again. Does anybody have a source? At least a dozen, maybe two dozen plants would be great, so paying $15 each for them would be out of the question.