Pasithea caerulea

[TrickyTroggle]

I am growing Pasithea caerulea from seed but have no idea what I should be doing. 

I germinated about 25 seeds before Christmas and now have seedlings with 4 or 5 blades. Some have completely died back while the majority are still green. I have explored beneath the soil and found a small bulb-like structure with fine roots attached. The plants are growing on my sunny garage windowsill to protect them from extremes of weather but they seem to taking a long time to bulk up. 

Does anyone have any experience of growing this plant from seed? I would really like to know the growth timeline and what to look out for. 

I am in South East UK and have bought Pasithea caerulea from a local nursery many years ago - but both plant and nursery have expired...so I am going it alone.

[OrchardB]

I have a patch ~ 1/2 metre square, and growing. The first flowers opened a few weeks ago and it will flower for a month or more. Highly desirable as a perennial. Produces lots of seed.
Brian, SE UK

[TrickyTroggle]

Hi Brian, did you propagate your plants from seeds? If so, how long did they take you to get from seed to flower? Also, did the seedlings die back and go dormant then re-grow some time later? I just don't know what to expect! 
Thanks, Clive.

[David Pilling]

You can consult the gray beards:

PBS wiki: https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Pasithea
PBS list: https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist?q=pasithea

although they spend a lot of time arguing about the spelling. It seems it can flower in its second year.

As a non-expert I'd guess keeping it from going dormant for as long as possible helps.

[OrchardB]

Don't think I have ever grown them and observed. I bought originally flowering in a pot I think and they have increased from there. I have passed on seed to gardening groups many times, but not grown them that way myself; from memory.

[PaulSiskind]

I've read that they go dormant during summers in their native area; but I've also read that in places with more mild summers (e.g. England) they don't go dormant during summers.  I germinated some seed last fall, and grew them under grow-lights over the winter.  In mid-spring, they started to go dormant, so I assume that the strong grow-lights mimicked a hot/dry summer.  I've read that they like to be drier during summer than during their growing seasons, but not completely dry like some bulbs want. 

Good luck!