Dodecatheon pulchellum

[Gene Mirro]

Growing in full sun on a raised bed of sandy loam soil:



A closer view:

[McDonough]

Marvelous!  To get such a patch going, do you dig up, divide, and replant rhizomes, or are these seed grown?  What culture do you give your plants to get such a fine patch?  My garden is Doecatheon deprived, but would certainly like to change that.

[Gene Mirro]

Marvelous!  To get such a patch going, do you dig up, divide, and replant rhizomes, or are these seed grown?  What culture do you give your plants to get such a fine patch?  My garden is Doecatheon deprived, but would certainly like to change that.

I don't know what will work in your climate.  Here, I sow the seeds thinly in Fall in a deep flat or pot.  In Spring, I let them grow in the container until the roots are holding the mix together, then I plant the whole thing out in a raised bed, without disturbing the individual plants.  In hot weather, shade is necessary.  When they get crowded in a year or two, I transplant them individually to their final locations, after they become dormant in late Summer.  It takes about four years from seed for them to get this big.  They should not be starved.  If the dormant roots get too warm and wet, they rot.  I grow them in sandy loam soil with Doug Fir bark mulch, to control weeds and keep the soil cool.  

If you let them get too hot or dry or starved in the first year, they may go dormant before the root is big enough to survive dormancy.  I've learned the hard way to give plants lots of root room, and don't starve them.  Some rock gardeners grow everything in sterile grit, as if they were Eritrichium nanum or something.  I think that's why plants like Physoplexis comosa get such a bad rep.  Physoplexis likes about the same conditions as ordinary garden perennials, except maybe the soil should be more sandy or gritty.  That's true here anyway.  I've never tried them anywhere else.  If you starve Dodecatheon, they might survive, but it might take ten years for them to bloom, if ever.

All of this assumes that you are controlling slugs, rodents, and weeds.

[Hoy]

I have been satisfied with a flower or two from my plants! Seems I should aim for more
Dodecatheons do well in my climate despite slug attack but I have never achieved such results.

[Palustris]

They refuse to go outside here for me, but in the rock garden in the Alpine house, D. meadia alba does well.

[cohan]

Interesting thread! I haven't definitively figured out whether the local species is pulchellum or conjugens: both are possible according to the map, but most I've looked at at all closely seem likeliest to be pulchellum, based on height if nothing else...
Here they grow in wet to seasonally wet  meadows/pastures/roadside ditches, which can be open or lightly wooded, though if it becomes too overgrown with woodies they will get crowded out as has happened on my family's land.. These spots might be dry in late summer, but in recent wet years they can easily be damp to wet, even some standing water through the season- though the Dodecatheons are likely to be on hummocks in the wetter spots.. Soils probably range from humusy soils in older wet areas to clayey soils in the roadside ditches..
I will post some photos, though not now - time to get ready for work!
If anyone is interested in seed, I can try to collect some again this year, and probably still have some from last year, if it remains viable..

[Lori S.]

I was told by a botanist acquaintance that the most definitive way to separate them is to look at the seed capsules... not something I've yet done.

[cohan]

I was reading that distinction in the flora as well, I've collected a ton of seed, but wasn't looking that closely at the capsules...lol.. have to figure out exactly which part they are referring to (acute vs truncate capsule teeth) I guess on the open up-facing capsule we are talking about the tips of the sections? then there is something about smooth bs rugose connective- connective what? I think they must be referring to the joined pollen sacs...
conjugens is supposed to be only to 20cm though, and most around here are considerably taller than that..

[Hoy]

I was reading that distinction in the flora as well, I've collected a ton of seed, but wasn't looking that closely at the capsules...lol.. have to figure out exactly which part they are referring to (acute vs truncate capsule teeth) I guess on the open up-facing capsule we are talking about the tips of the sections? then there is something about smooth bs rugose connective- connective what? I think they must be referring to the joined pollen sacs...
conjugens is supposed to be only to 20cm though, and most around here are considerably taller than that..

The connective in Botany is the structure that joins the pollen sacs.
I think you have to use magnifying glass

[cohan]

I presumed that was what it must be- it was unclear from some of the paragraphs, but the full species description the term was used immediately after description of the pollen sacs.. I wonder if I have any sufficiently clear/close photographs..

[Gene Mirro]

I was told by a botanist acquaintance that the most definitive way to separate them is to look at the seed capsules... not something I've yet done.

My Dodecatheon seed was collected in the wild and identified by botanists as D. pulchellum.  But when the seed pods form, some are long and skinny, some are fat and short, some are light, some are dark, etc.  I noticed the same thing with Camassia quamash.  If you looked at the seed pods, you would not believe they are all the same species.  Maybe a lot of these plants are hybrid swarms, and we insist on giving them species names anyway.

[cohan]

Interesting, Gene- I can't say I was looking for differences, but when I was collecting wild seed at quite a few sites within several to maybe 10 miles from here, I remember the seed capsules all looking about the same, but again, I was not looking for differences.. all about the same reddish/tan colour... certainly the plants around here have a lot of variation in leaves...

I might have this wrong, but I think Kristl mentioned there also being a difference in the germination pattern of a couple of the species, and i think the seeds I sent here germinated at warm, which is characteristic of D pulchellum (I'd have to ask her whether I'm remembering that correctl)

[RickR]

This is what Dr. Deno found with the Dodecatheon seed he trialed:

Dodecatheon alpinum ------- 70L
Dodecatheon amethystinum - 70D GA-3 40-70
Dodecatheon jeffreyi ------- 40-70
Dodecatheon media -------- 40
Dodecatheon pulchellum ---- 70
Dodecatheon pulchellum  --- 70D

[cohan]

I haven't used Dr Deno's work enough yet to be familiar with the codes.... I think the relevant comparison in Alberta would be pulchellum vs conjugens.. I'll ask Kristl what she thinks about it...

[cohan]

Kristl confirmed that pulchellum is an easy warm germinator, and conjugens requires cold! Interesting diagnostic tool