Moluccella Species, Bells of Ireland

On Oct 8, 2010, gourdobean from Minden, NV (Zone 5a) wrote:

Self sowed in tomato patch and now picking tomatoes is painful because of the dried spiny flowers. Be careful where you let these grow...they are cute when green and sharp when dried.

On Jul 8, 2008, woofie from Chewelah, WA (Zone 5a) wrote:

The seeds appear to keep very well. I had 4 seeds left from a packet purchased in 1994 and 3 of them germinated this year with no special care (other than starting them in a 4-pack in my greenhouse). Very nice contrast plant; great for cutting gardens.

On Nov 2, 2007, milkbonehappy from Chester, VT (Zone 5a) wrote:

Unusual lime green color and dramatic spikes look great in arrangements. Needs cold exposure to germinate - I direct-sowed the seeds in the fall/early winter and they germinated the following spring. Easy to collect seeds from dried "bells" - there are 4 seeds in the base of each one; be careful for the small thorns on the stem which are soft when the plant is green but become sharp when the plant dries. Spikes do tend to flop over when they get large. Good for a cutting garden.

On Apr 1, 2007, Angel_D from Quincy, IL (Zone 5b) wrote:

the seed packet says that the seeds should either be chilled in the fridge for 5 days before planting, or soaked in warm water for 3-4 hours before planting. Sounds like cold temps are important for germination.

(Seed packet - Burpee's, packed for 2007; origin - Holland)

On Jun 8, 2006, rocknross from Los Lunas, NM (Zone 7a) wrote:

watch out for the thorns
I planted them from seed in 2005
and self seeded in my garden in 2006
had never heard of this plant before 2005 the bells are pretty

On Jun 19, 2003, tervito from Minneapolis, MN wrote:

I live in Duluth. Last year put in a whole seed pack and got two seedlings, which matured into spectacular plants, although had more spread than I expected. At peak the stalks were about three feet high.

This year (2003), expecting the same rate of success, I planted two seed packs and got hundreds of seedlings, plus at least one that self-seeded from last year. I planted a little earlier, I'm sure, and it was a cold spring ... I suspect the cool temperatures aided germination. Since the seed pack stressed direct sowing, I expected that transplanting these seedlings would be troublesome, but I had no choice since the mass of seedlings needed thinning out in the four small areas I had planted, and I was loathe to keep just the 6 or 10 plants the space would allow. So I experi... read moremented with transplanting, and now have 30 plants growing in my boulevard.

The flowers have an intense vanilla-like aroma that seem to originate with the white centers of the flowers. My experience was that they dried green but faded to beige over the course of nine months. Looked striking in a dried arrangement with red astilbe, yellow yarrow, and black-eyed Susan heads.