Calochortus 2009-2010

[Lesley Cox]

Calochortus uniflorus (syn lilacinus) is a prohibited plant here, as distinct from just not permitted. C. barbatus also produces bulbils but they don't leave the flowering stems easily until it is in its dying stages, when the seed is ready in fact.

[Diane Whitehead]

My plan doesn't seem so promising, then.  Lesley, you say the bulbils
don't drop off till the seeds are ripe, when presumably the stem is
getting ready to die.  However, maybe they are ready to propagate
prior to that.  Has anyone tried deliberately picking them?

One example that may be similar:  Filberts are ripe  before the little cap
that holds them on the tree dries enough to release them, so I used to pick
them fast to beat the squirrels to them.   It doesn't work any longer, though,
 as the squirrels just put their timetable forward.

[Lesley Cox]

Are your filberts what we call hazelnuts or hazels? I'm surprised you have ever beaten the squirrels but NOT surprised that they've fast forwarded. I find anything I want to eat from the garden such as vacciniums, gaultheria fruits, the so-called NZ cranberry (Myrtus ugni) is already eaten by the time I'm judging it ripe. Hens love the last one, blast them.

[Diane Whitehead]

Yes.  Filberts =  hazelnuts.  I used to supply the neighbourhood.  Then
some fool brought some squirrels over to Vancouver Island.  I was
actually excited the first time I saw one - I rushed out with an offering
of food for it.

Now it's crows and cherries.  I need to find one that ripens white as
the crows like them when they're still pink.  A dozen trees, and I now
have to buy cherries, presumably from a place where they shoot crows.

[Paul T]

One year it just disappeared

Even glyphosate hasn't made mine disappear Paul.

Rob,

Well one year my 2 pots of them were empty...... maybe I had very selective mice or pests or something.  No glyphosate near them (maybe that is the problem..... they need a little glyphosate to keep them going?   ).

[Regelian]

I just received some Calochortus seed.  Do you think it is too late in the year to try germinating it?  As I understand, it wants stratification just above the freezing point.  Any one know for how long?  Maybe I can pop it in the fridge for a month.  We are soooo cold this Spring, I may get away with it!

jamie

[fleurbleue]

Hi Regelian,
Look at this website, you will find some infos according to the species you have get seeds of : http://www.onrockgarden.com/

[David Nicholson]

It would be helpful to know what species you have Jamie. Some are winter growers, some are summer growers, some need a period of stratification and some don't

[Regelian]

Nicole,
thanks for the great site!  None of my species are listed, unfortunately, but I have it securely bookmarked for the future.

David,
I have the following spcies: C. albus, C. albus rubellus, C. fimbriata, C. barbatus, C. clavatus, C. luteus, C. superbus, C. uniflorus, C. palmeri.  Do freezing temps actually kill any of these seeds? 

[fleurbleue]

Another interesting site Jamie 
http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/plantindex2.html

[Lesley Cox]

With the exception of C. fimbriatus which I don't know, all the others are quite easy from seed, with no stratification or other treatment, here at least but of course mine have come in the first instance from the UK seed lists and so have been sown in summer, likewise my own seeds. As to hardiness, they're fine here, but again.....we don't have a lot of frost below -5C. Rotting of the dormant bulbs is more likely

[Regelian]

Thanks, Lesley,
that helps a great deal.  I'll just sow and go.  I just hope our winters aren't too cold for their long-term comfort.  I plan to place them in my new dry slope garden, which is designed for aril iris hybrids.  Best drainage.

jamie

ps: happy b-day, belated

[Luc Gilgemyn]

It will be interesting to see how they cope with cold winters Jamie.
I have just a few species in pots which I bring inside when big frosts are forecasted...
I also stop watering and keep the pots 100 % dry right after flowering.
So far so good.. 

[David Nicholson]

Jamie of your species only barbatus is a summer grower, all the others are winter growers. I have checked in Gerritson and Parsons who recommend stratification for palmeri. Otherwise it's worth taking a chance sowing a few now but I would save some and try again next September.

[Regelian]

Thanks, David,

as I have only a pinch of seed or less, I think I'll just chance it in a petri dish and see what happens.  If there is no germination in 4 weeks, I may try GAC-3.

jamie