How to grow camassia

Camassia are hardy bulbous perennials, best grown in moist, fertile soil. Their elegant and graceful beauty is perfect for a whole range of garden planting schemes

There is no finer sight than a swathe of Camassia in full bloom, especially when they’ve been left to naturalise in grass or a mixed border. Their sturdy racemes are packed with six-petalled starry blooms in a rich palette of blues or creamy-white, sometimes with

variegated foliage and double-petalled flowers. Each spike opens sequentially from bottom to top.

Camassia bulbs are best planted between September and November before the ground becomes too hard. As a rough guide, plant the bulbs at two to three times their depth in a patch of ground in dappled shade. Clusters of linear, strappy foliage start to emerge in January – earlier if it’s a mild winter – and continue to bulk up before the sturdy flower stems push skywards in mid April, continuing their firework-like display until mid June. Plant alongside a good mix of cultivars to maximise their flowering season.

Flowers for free

Camassia bulbs bulk up vegetatively underground. You can propagate them either by removing the baby bulblets from their parent bulb and then potting them on into moisture-retentive, multipurpose compost, or by lifting and splitting established clumps between July and August when they are dormant. Replant immediately after dividing and water well.

Alternatively, you can collect and sow harvested seeds immediately for flowers in two to three years’ time. Plants propagated from seed are unlikely to be a true match to their parent plant.

Looking after your flowers

Camassia are easy to grow as long as they have enough of the moisture they crave. Their flowering capacity may slow if they don’t have reliably moist soil, or the clump is too congested and needs splitting. Beware slugs and snails too.

Remove faded flower stems (collecting seed, if desired) but leave the foliage to die back to feed the bulb for next season, just as you would with any bulbous perennial.

If Camassia are being left to naturalise in grass, mow as late as possible.

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Camassia

Everything you need to know about growing Camassia

Camassias with their tall spires of usually vivid blue flowers make a brilliant and bold display in any garden. They are tough, long-lived plants and trouble free, so they are perfect for permanent plantings in borders and by ponds, as well as for naturalising in light shade and wildflower meadows. They are great cut flowers too.

Everything you need to know about growing Camassia

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