Brodiaea elegans
Jane McGary (Sun, 19 Jun 2016 10:15:12 PDT)

Brodiaea elegans (grown from seeds collected in northern California)
does very well here in northwestern Oregon, in the open garden in
well-drained locations. As Mary Sue wrote, it isn't quite the last
themid (Themidaceae) to flower; Brodiaea californica is a little behind
it. B. elegans is more vigorous here than Brodiaea coronaria, which
flowers at the same time.

My "cheap" rock garden -- easily grown plants on a steep bank near the
road -- is dotted with various themids at this season. Their tall scapes
emerge among or even through the other plants for a naturalistic scene.
Visible now are Brodiaea elegans, Triteleia laxa, Dichelostemma
ida-maia, Dichelostemma multiflorum, Triteleia peduncularis, and
Bloomeria crocea. Above the rock garden, Dichelostemma volubile is
twining up through Cercis occidentalis (California redbud). Elsewhere in
the garden the hybrid Dichelostemma 'Pink Diamond' (presumably D.
ida-maia x volubile) is in flower. Triteleia laxa 'Rudy' with strongly
striped tepals adorns a raised bed.

Regarding flowering times for different populations, I notice that
Triteleia laxa "Giant Form" from seeds I collected in Mariposa County,
California, flowers much earlier than other forms of T. laxa here.
Indeed it's hard to understand why the former is in T. laxa at all; I
certainly didn't know what I was seeing in the wild, despite being
familiar with typical T. laxa since childhood.

To grow these plants in a more conventional garden setting where a
naturalistic appearance is not desired, one should plant them in close
groups. Some will increase to present a dense floral effect, and B.
elegans is one that will, but many of them seem disinclined to produce a
number of flowering stems from their offset corms.

An interesting thing about the taller themids is that the scape can
become detached from the corm even before flowering is finished, and the
flowers and seeds can continue to mature normally, apparently utilizing
just the moisture in the long, thick scape.

Jane McGary

Portland, Oregon, USA