>
>Maybe Dr. Meyers-Rice could tell you more (Hi, Barry!), who has the alpine
>_P.leptoceras_ (which is impossible to grow for many European growers!) in
>Arizona (!!).
>I used to find hardy Ping's impossible but then I discovered THE way.
>P. vulgaris is incredibly temperamental in cultivation and it was this
>plant that first showed me the way. I now grow all hardy Pings in a
>clay pot and sink the pot into sand (in Alpine Plant circles, this is
>called a plunge bench). I then keep the sand damp, NOT WET. I grow
I (not *quite* yet Dr.!) seem to be doing something mysterious right with
my alpine/boreal Pings because I'm growing _grandiflora_ types, _vulgaris_,
and _leptoceras_ all the same way, in a peat/sand mix standing in water.
They are damp, but not soaking, about 5cm above the H2O table.
Barry