Lifting and dividing Erythroniums

[mark smyth]

I missed most of my Erythronium 'Kinfauns Pink' seeds  Only just noticed the pods were open. Other pods, 'Harvington Snowgoose' are yellowish green. Can I pick them now?

I pulled the 'Kinfauns' stems so I can get the seeds tomorrow. They broke off 16cm / 6 inches under ground. Is it now a safe time to lift and divide/move them?

As I can't replant them until other plants die down this autumn how will I store them?

[Maggi Young]

Better to leave the pods until you see them yellow and begin to split, I think.

Erythronium don't like being dried out so if you do lift them it would be best to keep them in pots of  compost or sand so they do not get too dehydrated.

[mark smyth]

dehydrated? We haven't had rain here for weeks

[Maggi Young]

dehydrated? We haven't had rain here for weeks

   .... but in the ground the bulbs are kept at a more even temperature and will get some moisture from the soil, even if  just from the dew.  An Erythronium bulb kept out of the soil for any length of time becomes a poor limp wrinkled thing with very little life in it - not good.