Camassia leichtlinii 'Avon's Stellar Group'

Another bulb experiment that I started just before Christmas - more bulbs being grown from seed. These Camassia are a recognised group of hybrids, all bred by Avon Bulbs, which produce varying colours of pink, lilac, blue, cream and green. As flowers can vary, it is known as a ‘Group’ rather than a specific named cultivar due to the variability between each one. Hoping they will be quite easy to germinate, I’ve just sowed them in a basic seed compost/perlite mix (50/50) and popped them in....

in a shallow seed tray in the polytunnel to experience the coldness over winter. Fingers crossed germination should occur later in spring. And if I get any germinate, they will stay in this tray for one whole season before I transplant them #seed #seedsowing #camassia #camassia-leichtlinii #camassialeichtliniiavonsstellargroup #bulbsfromseed

You're going to need some shelves or tables in your polytunnel for all those experiments! Camassia is gorgeous, I love the blue ones. They have some at Newcastle University.

I know 😂 - fast running out of floor space. I’m trying to hold off till after my exams in mid Feb, but college starts again in 10 days and we’re going straight into grafting practicals so no doubt will have more projects to find homes for! The blue ones are lovely. I’ve got some others on the go too, Which I’ve had for a couple of years now, super flowers 👌🏼 @ublaszko

Good luck with these seeds! 👍👍 It's so much fun learning all these new techniques and different ways of getting more plants for less 😆😆 Grafting is such a useful thing to know!

Thank you 😊 - I’ve had mixed results with grafting, best success has been on apples, but hoping to do some on other ornamentals (Acers, Wisteria) - I did the latter also last year but lost them to Beast of the East as I didn’t have a sheltered spot for them - better prepared this year 😉 @ublaszko

Are there limits to what type of plants you can do it on or could it be any woody plant? Would be so useful to get a passionflower with a dwarfing rootstock 😆👍 Just wondering but does hardiness come from the top growth or bottom growth? Now you got me thinking 😅 My scientist brain won't stop now 😂😂

Oh they’re good questions, I ask tutor when I go back next week 👍🏼. I know that most cultivars of trees, shrubs are grafted commercially as you can’t usually raise cultivars from seed due to variation. To get true to form, you would need to graft or take cuttings of the cultivar vegetatively. Grafting is good option is a slow growing form, or difficult to root cuttings. You would normally graft into straight species of same genus I think (although doesn’t have to be same species) @ublaszko

That's really interesting! I suppose it's a good option to have when cuttings are difficult to strike as more success means less space needed to grow them on. And of course the possibility of mixing different characteristics to get a stronger healthier plant is always a good thing 👍