Pasithea caerulea

[brianw]

Tried growing this from my own seed last year. Germinated in the autumn (unexpectedly) and tried to keep it going over winter in frost free greenhouse. OK to start with but slowly deteriorated and now all rotted, while the plants in the garden are in flower again. Any advice welcome. Online advice is for alternate warm and cold to get germination but mine were no problem, apart from timing.

[Carolyn]

Brian,
I have found that these are warm germinators, no trouble getting them to germinate in a matter of a few weeks. My first attempt ended in failure, just like yours, they all gradually rotted. Second time around I made sure that the compost was very free draining and the plants are healthy, they came through the winter fine. I am just waiting for them to flower. They are still in the greenhouse, I haven't tried any outside yet. I thought they might make a useful addition to my gravel garden. Do you have them in very free draining soil in the garden?

[brianw]

Carolyn
My main plant (from Avon bulbs, Malvern show?) is now in its 3rd flowering year outside in the garden. It is in heavy sticky soil but on a steep slope facing west. It is green all year, to a greater or lesser extent so far, and has I think (its dark outside) 3 or 4 flowering stems this year. I would like to use it as a "meadow" type plant but don't know if it would survive in my coarse grass. It is a very deep blue.

[Carolyn]

It sounds lovely. Green all year doesn't seem too promising if we have a hard winter. I think I'll keep one plant in the greenhouse overwinter.

[Maggi Young]

Pasithea caerulea is the accepted spelling of this plant  - for instance : http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Pasithea

You will see on that PBS page that Mary Sue Ittner has found it does better when not  kept completely dry during summer - there is a photo of a dormant plant.

(Edit to correct comment!)

[Carolyn]

Maggi, the link you gave said to keep the pasithea NOT completely dry! Any sort of dry might prove difficult in SW Scotland in some summers.... But not at the moment, the sunshine is glorious and we are having to water the veg patch. Wonder how long this will last?

[Maggi Young]

So it does, Carolyn, I've corrected my note!  Just been wondering with a pal if the weather will be good for Gardening Scotland - it is grey and very cold again up here in Aberdeen. Fierce winds that are chilling everything and drying up the ground at a great speed. Not pleasant. Watering in the cold seems counter intuitive! At least you've got some sun to make it more logical!

It may be that we "had" summer the other week - just as well we were paying attention!

[barnclos]

I have managed to germinate Pasithea caerulia. I have to admit that I just did a general search on the interweb for germination, rather than checking srgc.net, and the advice that I found on the interweb was a) nick the seeds, b) cool temperatures. Attempts to nick the seeds were a failure - the seeds are so hard that it was like playing tiny tiddlywinks - seeds were flying everywhere. So I gave them a soak for 24 hours then planted on April 20 outside in a shady spot (5-15 °C) and the first cotyledon appeared 14 May. Carolyn: I see it as good news that they germinate at both warm and cooler temps.
I'd be grateful for any advice on growing them on. My inclination was to leave them in the pot for the first year, to let them bulk up a bit.

[brianw]

I wonder how these seedlings progressed?
I decided to move most of my plants yesterday to another bed, and was quite surprised to find the majority were "runners". Made me think since how many plants (clones) I actually have and if most are just offsets. They spread just like the awful grasses I can't get rid of elsewhere in the garden. Not checked for seed recently so don't know if most of it just rots and I have had little or no self seeding.

[barnclos]

I’ve spent a good hour trying to find my seedlings. I have a note that says I potted up 17 seedlings in November 2017, but I can’t find any of them. With a bit of luck I’ll remember what I did with them.

Update: I have remembered, and it isn't good news. My pots of seedling were in a cold frame over winter 17/18, when it was +15 °C at the beginning of February, but got down to -15 °C for a few days at the end of the month. Alas, this cold snap was too much for them and they all died.