I only have a couple too that have popped, a few days back. I think I planted mine around the same time you did. I guess they are slower than slow, so we need to be patient.

None from mine yet... didn't plant very many though, but my fingies are crossed!

-Marie

I winter-sowed a few, but nothing yet. Does anyone know if there is another name for these? I can't find them in any reference book or catalog, and I am not sure what to expect size-wise, nor am I certain their requirements for light, soil, etc.

Linda

(Waving her hand in the air-- Pick me- I know this one!!)
It's name is Parcandanda norisii. It grows up to 3'tall with 2" blooms in a broad range of colors and Iris like sword foliage (but less sturdy than Iris foliage) in sun to part sun and is drought resistant! It is a cross between Pardanthopsis and Belemcanda (Blackberry Lily, originally from China). Hardy to Zone 5- and usually hady in Zone 4. Will bloom first year from seed if started early enough. When starting seed, it is a good idea to cold wet stratify for up to 4w.
I did some homework...
Julie

Julie, close but no cigar. (Not that you'd want one.)

That would be Pardancanda norrisii. And more accurately: xPardancanda norrisii(read "cross Pardan.....") to indicate it's bigeneric heritage. A member of the iris family, so it will take those conditions, although rhizomes will tolerate a light mulch. Mine grow 3 ft as a norm, and I also have a couple dwarfer 2 footers. Here in zone 4a, they are super winter hardy.

If you are growing from seed, I recommend you grow as many as you can to the flowering stage, and then cull the less beautiful ones. Variation in flower color and spots on the "petals" will be great.

And that would be cold, MOIST stratification, NOT wet. For these seeds (and any iris family seeds) especially, too much moisture will cause molding.

Rick

Holy Moly, Julie...you are a walking horticulture encyclopedia! (Or as I always tell my husband, "you are a veritable cesspool of knowledge"!) LOLOLOL
Thanks for the info!

Linda

And once the seeds start sprouting, they come on FAST! One last week.... four as of yesterday..... and ELEVEN today~

I just checked mine and Joyce is right, they are a popping now. I started them by putting them in a zip lock in a moist soil mix in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks. Then I planted them and under the lights they went. I believe Rick or Dave gave me/us that advice on an earlier posting this winter.

I also winter sowed some and as I did my jug checks tonight, by flashlight, I have some sprouting outdoors too. I will get a better look at them tomorrow in some day light. It will be interesting to see how the indoor vs. outdoor candy Lilies do in comparison to each other.

I WS'd some too Sandy and didn't see anything green in there yesterday, but didn't check tonight. Hmmm... baseball tomorrow night, so it will be Friday before I get a chance. I bet there might be sprouts! These things surprise me how fast they grow once they gets started. The first one I had up has just the sturdiest little leaves sticking up there!

Linda- I really liked the "veritable cesspool of knowledge"- it reminds me of the song "Lump". Kinda suits me just fine! I don't always dredge up all the right info in correct order....... : )
Rick- I even looked up how to spell the word! Just call me fumble fingers! And yes- moist is a better word than wet. ;)~

I used a wet/moist papertowel in a baggie in the frig for 4w, then gave them a little bottom heat to get them started, and all of mine sprouted a long while ago- I only saw 3 non-viable seed out of a bunch of seed sown when I transplanted to pots last month. I had no delay like some- and wanted to share how/why for my good fortune. I hope I have as good fortune to get them to bloom as I did to sprout. I have not grown these, nor seen them in bloom- and am looking forward to seeing them bloom this year. I hope we all get to see these bloom this year!
Here's to Bloomin Candy in the garden!
Julie

HEY....anyone have some seeds from colorful plants??? I have been hunting around....could trade some daylily seeds....

Greetings Northerners! Can I thank you guys for sending us some low-humidity air this week? (Having moved to Texas from Alaska almost 3 years ago, I'm missing my cool weather.)

Sorry to butt in on your forum, but I happened by a nursery a few weeks ago and they had some of these Pardancandas with one plain yellow one in bloom. That plain yellow one was pretty (and unusual enough) to convince me to buy 2 other pots that were just budded.

Imagine my surprise when I got home, did a little research, and found out that the solid colors are the less desirables of the cross!

Anyway, mine are now blooming (both of them spotted), but I would love to increase their numbers. Most everything I've read indicates they're "easy" to start from seed.

I have never harvested seed from any sort of lilies or irises. The seedpods on my first few spent blooms are still green. Can you guys advise me as to proper harvesting and treatment of the seeds before "cold, moist stratification?"

Also, if you were given the luxury of having hardly any winter at all (that is, maybe 10 sporadic days below 32, and no frost until December), would you wait until spring to get yours started, or would you go ahead and start them this fall so they're strong transplants by spring (our frost free date falls between Valentines and the 1st of March)?

I haven't seen any of these down here yet, and my Texas Gardening Forum didn't have any advice when I posted there.

Thanks in advance.

Bobbi

Hey Bobbi! I received my seeds in a swap. I didn't do anything special with them myself - no stratification or anything else. As you can see if you read back in the thread, they took a long, long time to germinate. Those seeds did finally turn into 3-4 dozen really nice plants, many, many of which bloomed this first summer, so I'm all set to collect seeds myself this time. All of mine were the orange spoted ones and very pretty.

My seeds too were received in a swap. Some of my seeds were winter sown in a jug, and some inside under lights. The ones I started inside, as I stated further up in this post, I started them by putting them in a zip lock in a moist soil mix in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks. Then I planted them and under the lights. I had great success. The ones winter sown also sprouted come spring and by mid summer I couldnt' tell you which ones were from inside or outside starts. However, mine are big enough to have blooms, they don't though, so I will need to get more seeds in a swap for I want to try more. It's never ending!!

I believe if you were to start them now, they wouldn't be big enough by December to bloom for you, and the foliage would be killed off with your few days of winter weather. But depending how big and strong they grew before your couple of days of winter, they would return with new growth in early spring. Maybe if you have enough seeds, start some now outside, start some in Feburary - both outside and inside (under lights). Will be interesting to see how this works for you. Keep us posted!

Wishing you many blooms
Sandy

I just joined this site. thanks for the candy lilly info. i purchased 2 pots this summer and wound up with 3 different colors! i just harvested about 70-80 seeds. i plan on stratification per your advice, but how do i distinguish viable seed? there are some green and some black, kinda wrinkled. i've heard of placing seeds in water and the sinkers are good, floaters bad. should i wait for the green ones to turn black? any advice on this? also, it's october now. when's a good time to start stratification?

Hey there Paul-
It is the black ones that are ripe- You can wait till the seed heads open to reveal ripe black seeds before you gather them.
I only gave them 4 weeks in the fridge- and then planted them indoors under lights. I started in Feb?- But looking back- that was WAY too early- although I did get blooms the first year. I guess you will have to work it out and decide how long you want to keep them under lights.
I have heard that folks WinterSow them as well with good results.
Seems as thought you have more choices now than before you asked!
I hope this helped-
Julie

And when you collect seed, don't seal them in anything plastic that won't breath for storage. Pardanthopsis, Belamcanda and Pardancanda(Candy Lily) seed are very moist, an will mold in an unbreathable container. If you are storing over the winter (like for the seed swap), if they have dried for a month or two, then you can put them in plastic.

One of Julie's paper envelopes would work great.

thanks for the info. the seedheads opened and i harvested what was there. the plants seemed to die back and not all the seeds were black. does this matter? will they dry out and still be viable? they're such a nice plant and i would like to share.

Don't know. I've always had SO many seeds that I just discard any brown ones in the past.

If left on the stalk- or if you have cut the stalk with seeds in the pods and leave them that way- I have noticed that there is enough energy to ripen many- or have some of the seeds turn dark. I have not seen light seeds turn dark or ripen out of the pod. That doesn.'t mean they cant though- I just don't know.

I had some that were in open pods that weren't ripe and I left them be (even had loose ones) and a lot of them turned black.

I've not heard of Candy Lilies before reading this post. I would really like to acquire some seeds. Do any of you have a website you know of where they have Candy Lily seeds?

Also, it sounds like they come in many colors. Does that mean if you plant one seed and this plant reseeds you will get a bunch of seedlings with different colors?

OH MY GOSH_ I have sooooo many of those seeds! Go to my page- check the seeds for trade- and send me an e-mail with your addy- we can swap or SASBE- either way- you do NOT have to buy any of these-
Or you could wait till the MN Forum Winter Blues Seed Swap in January- and send in seeds to be shared- with a list of likes or dislikes- what ever is easier- and someone will volunteer to re-fill your envelope with new treasures and send it back to you with your return postage! The dates have not been set yet- but when they are- I will post more about it-
Julie

I got some Candy Lilies from Wayside Gardens in the '70's and they were incredibly colorful and each one was totally different. I did NOT know you should NEVER let them go to seed and in only a couple of years all of mine had turned to plain yellow or plain orange. I found out later, unfortunately, that they revert back to the species colors and you lose the beautiful hybrids when you let them seed themselves. So I eventually just threw them all away because I remembered out beautiful they were when I first got them. The only way I know of is to divide the clump as you would divide an iris in order to preserve the gorgeous hand painted colors.

Dominant colors are orange, and to a lesser extent, yellow. I do allow mine to seed as I use theme in dried arrangements. Just remember to pull any of the seedlings that come up in following years.

But just because orange is dominant, doesn't necessarily mean all seedlings will be orange. Out of the yellows, oranges and pinks that I grew, I grew seedlings and obtained a couple nice hues of purple.

Resurrecting an old thread.

So should I cut the seed pods off when they are still green, or let the pods turn brown/black first? On my daylilies, I usually cut them off when they're gree. I have a whole bunch I am saving and plan to open up and stick in some pots in the spring.

I want to not let them go to seed and lose their spots, but I'd like to have some more plants started from seed. I got 2 from SpringHill and only one plant has bloomed so far. I'm not going to try that hard with the seeds - I'll probably just open the pods, maybe soak the seeds, then keep them moist in a pot in spring and see what I get. Has this worked for anyone? And should I wait until they turn brown to open?

Just noticed this is the MN forum - I am in MD, but found the thread via search!

Some bloom pics to share (click on thumbnails):
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I live on the coast at the junction of NC and SC. I grew Candy Lilies last year for the first time. I started with 6 plants. I planted in part sun/part shade. This year I am putting the seeds in full sun.