Agapanthus a.k.a Lily of the nile From seed

I decided to plant the seeds from a friends plants. The first year they looked like large grass blades. The second year they looked like the 1 gallon plants fron the nursery. this the 3rd year...Does any one know when or if they will bloom? I got carried away and have over 100 of them! I want to set them along my driveway but have never heard of anyone starting from seed before so am not certain they will ever bloom.

This message was edited Wednesday, Mar 21st 1:12 AM

I haven't tried growing lily of the nile from seed, but I found some great info in one of my seed books (BURPEE Seed Starter by Maureen Heffernan) that says it may take 3-5 years to flower. Here's the rest of the info on that particular plant if you're interested:

AGAPANTHUS AFRICANUS-African lily, lily of the nile
Perennial Zone 9 (grown as houseplant in cold areas)
SOWING DIRECTIONS for planting outdoors, sow seeds indoors 2-3 mnths before last frost. For a houseplant, sow seed anytime of the year. Seeds need light to grow so cover very sparsely. INDOOR GERMINATION 70-75F 30-35 days to germinate. GROWING TEMP 65-70F GARDEN PLANTING plant in full sun or part-shade in well-drained soil. For best results supply generous amounts of water and fertilizer during the growing season. In zones lower (colder) than zone 8, plant in a container and place outdoors during the summer;bring indoors to a cool (45-50F) and dry location over the winter. Space 2 ft apart. DESCRIPTION Striking umbel-shaped clusters composed of many tubular flowers borne on tall flower stalks. Lower dark green, strappy leaves grow to 1 ft long. HEIGHT 3-4 ft (in bloom)
CULTIVARS:
"albus" has white flowers
"blue danube" has light blue flowers
"bressinham blue" has deep amethyst blue flowers

NOTE- African lilies grown from seed take 3-5 years to flower. The usual method of home garden growing is to purchase bulbs and plant them in the spring

HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL,
Kathy

Thank you! None of my books say anything about starting from seed. I need so many that root division is impractical and purchasing that many would be cost prohibitive for me. I will be patient and continue to wait for the flowers a couple more years...Patience is a virtue that only the garden has managed to teach me!

Do they get full sun? Is it possible they are getting too much shade?

They are in full sun and the leaves are healthy any shiny. They have grown like weeds since they first sprouted. Since this is their third season I guess it may be another year or three before they are mature enough to bloom...But with this many it should be worth the wait!

Perhaps some high phosphorus fertilizer would help. What do you use for fertilizer? Is it high in nitrogen? Cut back on the nitrogen and increase the phosphorus. Perhaps that will help. When they do start blooming, they are going to be beautiful!