Camassia cusickii – Cusick’s Camass – 5-Pint

Camas are showy lily relatives, mostly from Western North America,  that brighten up the Spring garden with spikes of large flowers in various shades of blue, and are particularly effective when used en masse. Cusick’s Camas has the palest blue flowers of the Western species, ranging more into a pale lavender. They prefer a moist to quite moist soil in Spring and can tolerate drying out in Summer. Plant them at the edge of boggy areas and around ponds and streams where they will often naturalize. They grow from a sizable bulb – native Americans used Camas bulbs extensively as food, but primarily two other congeners, C. leichtlinii and C. quamash – Cusick’s Camas bulbs have a bitter taste and slimy texture.