How to Pick Camassia Bulbs

Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen on behalf of Expert Village. There are a lot of native plants that you can grow in your yard that would make beautiful additions. One of my favorites is Camassia or Camas Roots. I like it because I live in Kalama, Washington and it's a native to our area. In fact, Camas, Washington was named after the plants and it has a great history. The Indians used to eat these little bulbs just like you would eat a hazlenut or a peanut, and they would take them with them on their journeys so that they would have food, and it stored all winter long, and they could eat them. Also, when they traveled to another location and they needed to come up with food, they would just plant some of their bulbs and they'd have a new crop. They look kind of like a Lily of the Nile or a Agapanthus in the fact that they have big blue flowers that come up and bloom in the summertime. But unlike the Lily of the Nile that needs a really dry location, these thrive in wetlands; they love to be right in water. So, if you've got a spot in your yard that's really just too wet for anything to grow and everything just keeps dying there because it's too wet, Camassia is a great choice. And they're easy to plant! They look just like a little Hershey kiss candy and they're just a small ball, and you just plant three in the pot, or more - or 5 or 6 even, in any one area, and you only plant them just 3-4 inches deep, if that. Just water them well because they like water. Because they are native, they'll never rot out and they'll never freeze out. So, if you want to plant them, you can just throw them in the ground or leave them in the pot outside in the winter and they'll come back each year; it's a great addition to your garden. Camassia is a beautiful native plant to the northwest, but we also have another one that we want to talk about next, and that's Triteleia.