camassia quamash not up yet

Hi
I have never grown camassia before plant 100 of them last autum , don't see any poking through the soil is it to early for them? Our should they be up by now .
I live 420ft above sea level north antrim glens inland northern ireland.

Thanks

Bearnard

 

Camassia tend to be summer flowering so probably around mid Summer for you, I saw leaves on the ones I had in May turned out my garden was too dry for them and they faded away over several years.

 

Definitely a bit early for them, mine are still dormant.

 

Mine are 4” above ground ,they are a verigated type .
They have been in a couple of years so are established.
Mine flower the middle of May-and are lovely but quite short lived.
Bear 1 you have planted 100 wow I just can’t imagine what a great show they will be ,hope you can show us a pic. when they are in full bloom.

 

Yours look amazing , seen them planted on mass a couple of years ago in a garden then monty talked about them , so ordered them last year was like a big kid waiting for them to arrive can't wait for them to come up going to plant amazing grey poppies and poached egg plant round them if all goes well will take pictures

 

Ours are showing good leaf but still a way to go before we see any flower stems.

 

One set now has flower buds showing.

 

Lots of foliage on mine but no buds showing as yet. They were definitely one of my best new buys last year.

 

This is one of our clumps with well-developed buds. They've had a battering in recent days but have stood up so far.

 

Mine are only about 6 inches out of the ground @Bear1 , so I wouldn't worry too much, although I'm a bit further north than you [same sort of altitude] but if you're in a glen - are you getting later frosts? That can stall them a bit. They don't start flowering until about late May here normally. I have plain green ones and a variegated one - all white flowers, as I dislike pale blue.

However, you say you have poppies and poached egg plant in the same area. Those like quite different conditions from Camassias.

 

Mine are well up with flower spikes. I grow both the blue and white but prefer the white, which always flowers about 3 weeks later than the blue. They must be happy as I only planted 10 of each and they are both reproducing each year. I think they like plenty of moisture which they certainly have had this year!

 

They spread very easily in the right conditions - but they don't like being dry long term, so the soil has to be moisture retentive if you're in an area where there's not regular rainfall.
We have amended clay here, but we're also never short of water through the year.
The biggest problem with them is the length of time the foliage stays in situ, which could affect other planting, so that has to be considered

 

My clump is at the same stage as Lunarsea's (lovely garden, by the way) I do love the plant. I was thrilled when it appeared in my border- it seemed to sulk before saying ''Oh what the 'eck, I may as well grow here'' the incessant rain seems to favour it. If we have a hot. dry spell sometime this year, I'll give it a soak, as @fairygirl rightly points out.

 

I agree they prefer a water-retentive site. However the clump I showed on the image above is one that I transferred from the clay soils in the back garden to the front garden (next to Anthemis & Eryngiums) which has about 18" of well-drained topsoil. The difference being that the ones at the back seem to grow 'soft' and are susceptible to wind damage at the crucial time. They are looking very untidy at the moment and I don't think they'll ever properly recover. But the well-drained ones at the front are definitely the ones that will look best when they eventually flower. It all comes down to luck and timely management at the end of the day.

 

Could I sow annual grass like bunny tails our nicotiana thought the bed of camassias our would that be a bad idea? Just thinking something to hide the cammasia leaves when they die down