I too became quite enamored of this beautiful scilla and found a source. Three purchased bulbs produced three flowering scapes in the autumn here in southern California. I live in the San Fernando Valley part of Los Angeles, and the days can become pretty hot in July and August (88 to 95 degrees), but nights cool to 65 to 72 degrees. September days and nights begin cooling -- and the Scilla mads respond lustily to this cooler weather. I planted my purchased bulbs not above ground as in Kew's images but with the bulb's noses just above ground (potting soil) level. They have prospered thusly. Since I bought three bulbs, I have presumed they are seedling grown. And when they bloomed, I gently jostled the blooming scapes one against the other. Each scape produced an average of six or seven seed. I kept the plants properly watered until these green seed began to turn yellowish (in June). At that time, I carefully removed each maturing seed and kept it protected inside the house. After at least a month and beginning in July, all seed were harvested, and I soaked them in water overnight. The next day I was able to remove the outer pod material as it had become soft and mushy. Each seed pod had one hard black seed. Since the parent bulbs were quite going dormant for the summer, I planted these seed as if nature had dropped them. Just 1/8 inch deep in a mixture half perlite and half steam-sterilized humus was my choice of potting soil. I planted a crop of about 25 seed into one large (two gallon) shallow but wide pot. After planting and watering the seed, I stretched shrink-wrap over the pot so as to keep the planting medium -- and seed -- gently moist but not wet. I think every seed came up over a span of several weeks and appeared healthy. Here in southern California the winters are usually mild with the coldest nights at about 37 to 39 degrees. I babied these seedlings through the winter (bringing the pot inside for the night) and they have grown "great guns". Now, in early July 2021, the pot is exploding with healthy semi-mature leaves and have filled the pot as much as can be imagined. I am keeping it in dappled shade for the morning and full shade against the afternoon sun. It is now too late to divide this cram-packed pot, so I'll have to baby it through the 2021-2022 winter. When these seedlings go dormant next June or July, I will divide them and give them each a proper home. Note regarding my purchased bubs: I noticed that where the leaves had emerged from the bulbs, several leaves harbored populations of mealy bugs. I sprayed immediately, and it looks as if I have eradicated the infestation. A word to the wise: keep an eye out for mealy bugs on your bulbs! As for fertilizer, the Los Angeles city water is slightly alkaline. Consequently, I add a wee bit of acid fertilizer to the water every time watering seems required. I kept the parent bulbs as well as the babies gently watered but do not ever allow water to accumulate in the soil; the planting medium plus the active roots keep the soil more on the dry side rather than water-logged. If things continue to develop so well, then in the summer of 2022 I will plant these seedlings into the yard in a semi-protected spot and see how they do. Fingers crossed that in another year or two I should have a forest of blooms to rival the images of Kew's beautiful plants. Hope the above information may give you the impetus to grow your bulbs with perfect results. Phil

LOL Karen! Too funny! Is that like the regifting rule that you need to rewrap it? :) I looked around and tried to guess what you might like to even us up a little. I have a senecio that's a succulent called hot dog plant, not hardy, and a little houseplant that has adorable bulbs with freckled leaves, used to be scilla violacea, now it's a manfredia, i think. I also have some walking iris pups i could pot up, a pot of variegated french lavendar, which is ratty but will fill out nicely this summer, but isn't hardy, and some of that ornamental red leafed yellow flowered oxalis. Also, i could bring one of my pots of the puberula that i got at bb's, which i found the tag for that said z8, and is just labelled rosebud sage, if you'd like. BTW, I lost that cool sage that looked like a variegated koyame but plan to get more when i get down to bb's. Dana no worries- it's a really small start. The dirt's gotten hard & dry again, just like that. If it's happy it'll take off and go, though. I've had mine for oh, about 14 years. Deb, Karen & Alicia. I feel awful having to report this, but i was digging up those small rosette delizy starts and not a one of them had rooted for real. Dad gummed things really fooled me- they were stuck in but good and had new growth, but no real roots. So i went ahead and got them out of the ground and into little pots. They were well healed, nice & bumpy, and looked to be beginning the rooting process. I can either bring them and you can see if they'll root, or I can keep them here with plans to bring them come fall. Your choice- just let me know what you want me to do and if you want something else. The mother bush is getting ready to bloom and not really big, so i hate to do cuttings now. They supposedly do much better if taken after the first flush anyhow, so i may attempt to root more after that in june.

Haves: I'm waaaay behind the digging curve here, BUT will take a look at some of the want lists and see what I can bring. I think my gweb mail works but in case it doesn't, email me at LynneinMD AT gmail DOT com... Anyone want some miscanthus? I have plant sale leftovers in (I think) 2-gallon pots. Sedum (I don't think it's 'Autumn Joy' but it's similar. Possibly 'Autumn Fire', from the pics I've found online) Sedum 'Dragon's Blood' Sedum 'Tricolor' Dianthus 'Frosty Fire' which is a hot-ish pink, not the red on the tag (not that I care, but I know that some do...!) California Poppy (I think...I planted these as seeds last year and have new plants in the same place..) Creeping Thyme possibly 'Pink Chintz' Rudbeckia Salvia shrub (small pink flowers, no idea which variety) catnip Nepeta 'Walker's Low' Violets Iris - deep dark purple and a whole bunch of surprises. Lynne

Am so excited to have drupes on the new Edgeworthia papyrifera that I got this spring. If I can catch them at the right stage of ripe and then get them to germinate ~a year from now, it will probably only be another decade before flowering. So why am I so excited? I don't know but have decided to just enjoy the moment.