Brodiaea--TOW

I grow all my Brodiaeas in large pots, and there are often dozens of blooms
at the same time. As Mary Sue pointed out, these bulbs look much better in
a group. With a dozen or so blooming at the same time, the fact that the
flowers do not open all at once is not a detraction, but rather an asset,
since the bloom time is extended, and the unopened flowers are not obvious.
In all my pots, the foliage isn't gone when they are in bloom, but is partly
shriveled, necessitating some sort of disguise. Since I used to group pots
for ornamental purposes, I simply have positioned the Brodiaea pots where
the leaves are hidden by another pot. In the garden some sort of ground
cover or planting can be used - after all, this is needed even with Dutch
bulbs to disguise the foliage as it dies off. I have found that all of the
Themidaceae can tolerate summer watering if drainage is good, and moisture
not excessive.

As for the height of Mary Sue's B. elegans, I have often found the reference
to height in Jepson and other references to be way off the mark. The B.
stellaris found the other day were as much as a foot tall (30cm), growing in
the roadside grasses, although Jepson says 2-6cm (a few were that short).
With moisture and fertilizer they will all reach greater heights than in the
wild.

While Dichelostemmas are the best cut flowers out of the Themidaceae,
Brodiaeas are excellent also, since they last well in water, and the satiny
texture and intense purple-blue color of most is a welcome addition to a
bouquet. As in the garden, they are best in a group and mixed in with
other spring-blooming flowers.

Diana
Telos Rare Bulbs

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Sue Ittner" <msittner@mcn.org>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 7:17 AM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Brodiaea--TOW

Dear All,

I grow Brodiaea in large pots, in raised beds, and in the ground. Because
the flowers in the umbel open one at a time and the leaves are sometimes
gone before they flower, they wouldn't exactly make a show pot for display
and might better be integrated in the garden. I manage somehow to look at
mine in containers and just enjoy each new flower and don't see the rest.
Years ago the Robinetts advised deep pots and I found I could grow them in
much shallower pots and still get them to grow, but I think they are
happier in deep pots (especially the larger species) and you often find

the

contractile roots pull the cormlets down sometimes to the bottom of the
pot. Many of them grow in areas that are wet late into spring and I found
it I grew them in a very lean mix and didn't concentrate on watering them
once it stopped raining many of them would dry up before they bloomed. So

use a less lean mix now. I don't think some of the species I grow could

get

too much water as they are not bothered by my wet winters.

As Diana said they can be grown from seed started in the fall and kept in
growth until they start to dry out in the summer. My records indicate that
seed I have started in the fall germinates sometimes in a month, but
sometimes it doesn't come up until January. I move seedling pots and

others

in the shade when they are dormant and leave them there until late fall
when I water them again. As it is relatively cool where I live in the
summer I find if I try to repot them in August and sometimes September too
in this cool spot they may already by growing new roots and shooting
without any summer water. I have no idea what they do in the wild. In my
pots they show up from October-December probably depending on

environmental

conditions and later than that in the ground.

I usually add slow release fertilizer when I repot them. I am unlikely to
water them with dilute fertilizer when they are well watered by the rain,
but I find the seedlings grow faster with dilute fertilizer and I partly
shelter some of my species from the rain. And once it stops if the
seedlings are still green I water them with the dilute fertilizer until

the

leaves start to dry up.

I have read for years that they won't tolerate summer water, but I suspect
some of them may be more tolerant than we think. An example in bloom right
now is Brodiaea elegans that has survived for years growing in a container
on my deck with a Meyer lemon that gets watered almost every day during
warm weather. And this lemon is well fertilized too because otherwise it
starts looking very unhappy. I was very fortunate to have a visit from

Jane

McGary last week and she said it was the biggest Brodiaea elegans she had
ever seen. It measures about 28 inches (70 cm.) tall and the individual
flowers in the umbel are about 1 3/4 inches (4.5 cm.) in diameter which

may

not be the best way to measure it. If you look at the picture below you
will know what I mean.

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

I can't testify to hardiness, but once again I expect it depends on the
species and that ones grown from seed collected from wild populations at
high elevations would be hardy. Tomorrow I will describe the species I

grow

and the next day the species I don't grow.

Mary Sue

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