How to grow Calochortus, the novel

It was very nice for Hugh MacDonald to give permission to add his
experience with Calochortus on the wiki. I have kept all the old
issues of Mariposa and they are treasures of information. Jim
Robinett suggested that Calochortus would grow better in deep wooden
containers, especially in my wet climate and to avoid plastic. So I
have done that as they don't retain water like plastic. I like that
Hugh has given suggestions for various climates as that at least
gives you a place to start with the best chance of success. Some of
the species he lists for mild/moist which would be my description
I've not had luck growing.

These are the best performers for me that I can leave outside exposed
to the elements and most every year they will bloom:
Calochortus albus, Calochortus amabilis (have to start new ones from
seed occasionally), Calochortus amoenus (but dwindles), Calochortus
argillosus, C. splendens, C. syntrophus, C. superbus, C. tolmiei, C.
umbellatus, C. uniflorus, C. venustus (performance is erratic), C. vestae

Jim used to say to get C. vestae to bloom reliably you needed to keep
it well watered and fertilized. The ones that make offsets at least
keep you in business. I think that is why I still have C. venustus as
it produces new ones to make up for the ones that die. Calochortus
uniflorus even if not very spectacular blooms the longest for me. It
is native to where I live, but rarely blooms in the ground for me
even if I plant it in situations that look like where I see it
growing. But in containers it does great. I just let nature water
them and move them into the shade in summer. This past growing
season, I had one bulb or another flowering in October, November
(both of these were very strange times), February, March, April, May.

I used to have good luck with C. luteus, but seem to have lost it. I
have some open pollinated ones that I call Mariposa Hybrids and they
do very well. I lost C. pulchellus and C. monophyllus. Some years I
get bloom from C. catalinae, C. simulans, C. plummerae, C.
umpquanensis and have had bloom from C. weedii and C. clavatus, but
these are chancy for me even if I sheltered them from the rain. I
think it is just too humid. The last two years I've had a couple of
blooms from C. obispoensis, in fact it has a bud right now that will
open soon. One C. clavatus out of many different pots and subspecies
opened yesterday. Nothing from the rest of them. It's gorgeous, but I
suspect that eventually all of this species will be history. It's too
bad, but at least I got to see them flower. At this stage of the game
I am most interested in growing the things that like the climate I have.

I've written this before, but since most years we have our heaviest
rainfall in the winter, I had better luck with seeds that I planted
late January than those started earlier. Usually they don't germinate
for about a month and by then the rain is less and the humidity is
less and so I don't lose as many. That wouldn't have been true this
year however as we continued to have rainfall into June.

Mary Sue