Sandersonia Species, Chinese Lantern Lily, Christmas Bells

Fairly easy to grow bulb. I grew mine outdoors in pots in potting soil with some additional sand for drainage. 100% germination and bloom...Read More success. The flower and the leggy bulb shape is wonderfully unusual. As this was the first time growing them, I took copious notes. Each bulb ranged about 8-12 grams in weight. As soon as I received them in the mail (June), I laid them flat, (without each bulb touching), in a tub of slightly moist peat moss. Do not let the tips dry out, so cover the bulbs completely in 1" of media. I kept the tub in a warm room at about 75 degrees F. I would have planted them right away, but I had to go out of town for a week. Anyways, when I returned and pulled them out of the tub, each tuber had germinated in one or two of the legs. I then planted them in pots and watered them fully, then kept the soil slightly moist until the growing tips appeared above the surface. Sandersonia seem to take a while to break the surface, but as soon as they do, they grow vigorously. Be patient, do not overwater, as they despise wet and cold conditions. I will attempt to grow them from seed next time.

I am glad that I read the comments before purchasing seeds. Thanks you Ferrymead. There is no way I am going through all that to start ...Read Morea plant from seed.

Bought bulbs through mail order after seeing them in a friend's garden. This is its 3rd year to bloom, getting larger each year, with fi...Read Moreve blooming stems now. I grow it in a pot with regular potting soil where it gets about 1/2 day of sun. I leave it in the pot, outside all winter and have had no problems (San Francisco), so was surprised to hear lifting in the winter is recommended

Once grew Sandersonias commercially from seed for both tuber production and flower stem sale. Grew in bark compost in wooden sided beds...Read More for tuber sizing up and in polystyrene boxes for flowering.
Seeds were harvested by gathering flowering stems ( hedge cutter used) from growing on tubers. Dried them indoors for several weeks, then put through threshing machine. Seeds were placed into fine mesh bags and hung up in a dry dark shed.
These seeds were planted in Spring into seed trays and grown outside to size up. Would flower after replanting the next season.
Flowering stems for sale were grown in a greenhouse in ppolystyrene boxes, fertilized compost, trickle irrigation and two sets of support mesh which were moved up the support standards, this was necessary to ensure straight stems.
Stems were cut, graded for sized stem lengths, the stems placed into floss packets and packed into cartons ready to go to the exporters.