On our way out to Silver Falls, we passed a nice farm with a sign on the barn "Native Lilies - Chocolate, Fawn, Camas".We had to stop!
They were growing very nice 'Grand Camas' - we've never seen them so big!
The Chocolate Lilies were done for the year, and next year's plants were just coming up.We have tried to grow camas from seeds, but after they initially sprout, they die off.
Regular potting soil, long, deep planters (more than 12" deep), and some sawdust to hold moisture with the plants outdoors seems to be the trick.
We bouight some bulbs - these 5 year old plants were huge! The longest was over 52" long. Most of the wild plants we've dug were less than 18" tall, with bulbs the size of dimes or quarters.
These bulbs were fist-size.
Alot of seed pods for next year, too.
We planted them where they would get alot of sun at mid-day.
While planting the new lilies, we uncovered a bunch of smaller camas from our seed plantings last year and 2 years ago.These bulbs never flowered (that we know of) but seem to be thriving. Hurray!
These Grand Camas were beautiful plants. Hopefully they take to their new home 2 hours north of their birthplace.
Fun!
