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Author Topic: Calochortus 2020  (Read 1661 times)

PaulFlowers

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Calochortus 2020
« on: March 14, 2020, 10:48:11 AM »
I should face it; I’m not good at calochortus. Almost everything I’ve grown from seed dies off. But they are so beautiful. I bought these as bulbs and I love them.

I’ll krep trying with the seeds but which ever month, indoors or outdoors, what ever soil or cat litter they don’t like the what I offer.

Below Calochortus catalinae opening - working at home has its advantages







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 edit  by  maggi to rotate  images
« Last Edit: March 14, 2020, 11:08:30 AM by Maggi Young »

Maggi Young

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2020, 11:09:44 AM »
I know  how  you  feel about  Calochortus, Paul  - they die  very  easily - and  they seem almost  incapable  of  being  self-supporting - but  my  word, they are  so lovely!
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

WSGR

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2020, 07:15:43 AM »
PaulFlowers: Rare seeds are difficult to get fresh! I bought tons of erythronium seeds and even some Trillium seeds. I paid about £3 for 6 seeds and it will take ages for them to stir, let alone flower!

In the end, with my advancing great age, I decided to buy bulbs and now all my erythronium bulbs have announced their presence.

660793-0

I don't even know where my various seeds are!

Those flowers are so beautifully and stunningly shot. Well done!

Diane Whitehead

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2020, 03:57:18 PM »
I have 48 pots of calochortus seedlings, about half of them newly germinated.

I was expecting flowers in four or five years, but may have a lot longer to wait.  I just attended a talk by Mike Bone, Curator of Steppe Collections at the Denver Botanic Garden.  He said the fastest flowering he's had from seed has been nine years.

Diane Whitehead        Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
cool mediterranean climate  warm dry summers, mild wet winters  70 cm rain,   sandy soil

Rob-Rah

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2020, 11:43:21 AM »
I have a single C. tolmiei seedling which came up for the second season this year as one spindly leaf. It's already died down..... I don't have much hope for it though! :P

PaulFlowers

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2020, 06:09:12 AM »
My tolmiei seedlings have not come back; year three.

Attached Calochortus superbus - the plants are very small but floriferous. Slightly worried this must be depleting the bulbs.





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« Last Edit: March 21, 2020, 12:04:49 PM by Maggi Young »

PaulFlowers

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2020, 06:45:11 PM »
Calochortus superbus opened

Kat N

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2020, 07:40:56 PM »
Hello,

I am new to this forum, and since I am particularly fond of Calochortus thought this might  be the best place to make an intro post.  About two years ago I moved with my family from Los Angeles to SW Germany.  In LA, I grew C. superbus and C. venutus from seed and bulbs (generally with more success with C. superbus).  When I grew from seed I usually could get flowers in 3 years, although one spectacular plant bloomed in its second year.  But that was LA....

I am currently trying to grow some C. superbus here in Germany and it is a whole other ball game..  I sowed the seed in March 2019 and got about 8-10 seedlings in 2019.  Unfortunately I did not keep good notes from last year so I don’t have the exact date, but at some point in late summer I brought the pot into the basement for dormancy and then brought it out again in February of this year.  I now have what appear to be 20+ new seedlings but only one one-year old sprout.  :(  The seedlings are starting to yellow, which to me indicates that it is soon time to put them somewhere dry.  I also now have a pot (really a long deep tray) of C. albus and C. monophyllus out for 6 weeks but nothing happening.  I wonder if they might also need another year to sprout.

So I have many questions for you Paul  :). Are your Calochortus outside? And did they bloom late March (that’s earlier than mine ever bloomed in LA, they always bloomed around beginning of April).  When do you stop watering them? What are you growing them in? I had an amusing time at several garden centers here in Germany trying to ask if they had perlite and vermiculite, my go-to mix for CA natives along with peat moss / peat substitute.  Not only do they not have it (although perlite seems to be available by internet), they seemed to think it really strange that I wanted to make my own potting mix!

Anyhow, I have a lot to learn.  Thank you all for your helpful posts. Here is a photo of my overachieving C. superbus that bloomed in its second year in 2017, that I had to leave behind  :(

fermi de Sousa

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2020, 12:23:44 PM »
Calochortus luteus from seed from Robert in California sown in 2017 RMB693 and first flowered last year,
cheers
fermi
« Last Edit: November 23, 2020, 11:22:31 AM by fermi de Sousa »
Mr Fermi de Sousa, Redesdale,
Victoria, Australia

fermi de Sousa

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Re: Calochortus 2020
« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2020, 11:25:08 AM »
Calochortus grown from seed as C. clavatus recurvifolius which may be C. clavatus x luteus (as discussed in previous years),
The second and third pic are of one planted in the garden which is doing better than the one in the pot!
cheers
fermi
Mr Fermi de Sousa, Redesdale,
Victoria, Australia

Roma

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Re: Calochortus 2021
« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2021, 10:29:33 PM »
Calochortus barbatus - AGS seed sown in December 2019

I did not expect a flower so soon. C. barbatus is a summer grower unlike other Calochortus I have grown.  I grew it a long time ago but lost it in the severe winter of 2010.  My previous bulbs had more colourful flowers with brown and green.  I have a few bulbs growing this time so hope to have different ones when they flower.

Calochortus barbatus   September 2021





Calochortus barbatus   July and August 2009



Roma Fiddes, near Aberdeen in north East Scotland.

 


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