Bulbs: Bulbs from Seed (Making more from what you've got!?), 1 by Todd_Boland

Todd_Boland wrote:
I've grown crocus, scilla, allium, cammasia, muscari and zygadenus from seed. Slow process to reach flowering size, on average about 3-4 years. Those listed above are easy. They all need stratification period so I usually sow them in pots in the fall and overwinter them in the cold frame or even under the back deck. Come April-May, they start to sprout, looking like grass. I keep them watered until the show signs of dying back, then I withhold water, essentally relying on natural rain. I may dump them out of the pots in August and see if they are large enough to plant out but generally, I leave them for another winter and spring, dumping them out in the second August. By then, they are usually large enough bulbs to handle so I plant them where they are to flower then wait another year or so before they reach flowering size. An exeption are zygadenus and allium, if they are summer-green species (i.e. they grow all summer rather than go dormant). With those, I grow them in the pot for the first summer then plant them out as a full pot or if thick, divide them into clumps in the fall. Alliums may bloom within 3 years. Crocus, scilla, muscari and cammasia are so readily available that growing from seed is purely for sport. However, zygadenus are not as commonly available and some alliums are only available as seeds so that is the only way to aquire them. Attached is a picture of Allium flavum I planted as a full pot three years ago. They bloomed this year for the first time.