JB, have you ever thought about submitting any of your shots to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower website? I've been going to that site to "window shop" for what seeds I want to buy, and I've got to say, not many of the pictures they have are as pretty as yours.
As I've said before, you piqued my interest in natives enough that I found that website. I needed to know if blue-eyed grass was native to Ohio. I fell in love with blue-eyed grass because of your pictures.
They have 15 pictures of blue-eyed grass. Take a look. None of them made me catch my breath and say "Oooh!!" http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=SIAN3
Looking at their pictures of it, I wouldn't have been enticed to order seeds online the way I did.
Does it bloom the first year?
Appreciate the compliment!
I'm surprised how pale many of those photos look and wonder if some are of different Sisyrinchium species, but there is always a bit of variety in true wild species. I have added photos to other sites in the past, but not that one. Of course, I also have been compiling photos of each of my plants on my JB's Native Garden site on the "My Plants" page as a reference for myself and anyone else who winds up there. I like having a photographic list of each and every native specie I have. I plan on eventually using that to help me finish my showcase here on Gardening Forums.
I've had some Blue-eyed grass grow really well the first season and others that don't do much until the second year, but I've never had any bloom the first year. They always bloom the second year even if they are small. It's well worth the wait!
When they produce seed, I collect it and then wait until Autumn to scatter it where I want it. It seems to be really easy to grow from seed. As long as they have three months in Winter conditions, the seeds seem to sprout easily. I'm using it to border my pond and have had a lot of seedlings pop up where I scattered the seeds last year.
