Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Go Figure...



One of the more interesting questions in horticulture is why certain plants grow great in one garden, and disappear in another. For example, crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) have a reputation for being very finicky but they grow like weeds here, and I have no idea why. Both of these clusters were planted as single small offset bulbs two years ago; now each is a clump of five. It must be something in the water...
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Comments:
How much sun do yours get? Mine come back each year but are not real sturdy, which I attribute to only half day sun. Some even multiply giving me two unsturdy plants.
 
And sometimes you can have 2 of the same type of plant close to each other in the same garden and one will thrive and the other doesn't!
 
I've had them (at our other site) do well for a couple of years and then gradually disappear. I planted a couple last Fall. We'll see... :-)
(Yep, it's that Iowa City water!) ha.
 
We lost our crown imperials and our F. Persica in that cold blast 2 years ago and I keep hoping they'll come back but no such luck. *Sigh* We did plant a bunch of the "Fox's Grapes" ones last fall, so are looking forward to those this spring ... any words of wisdom about those to share?
 
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Pharmeceauticals. That's what's in the water.
 
Philip... about half sun, too, but the ones that get afternoon sun are pretty straight.

Laura... yah; go figure!!

Shady... they need sun and good drainage; that I know.

IVG... that was a tough spring for the big frits; mine got damaged but came back. The fox's grapes seed all over heck; probably the easiest fritillary. Likes a fair amount of morning sun to flower well.

Benjamin... here in Iowa unfortunately it's herbicides and nitrates!

Don
 
Mine seem to have multiplied, too. They didn't bloom last year, and with as healthy as they look right now, I'm hoping there's at least one bloom in the bunch!
 
Don,
Thanks for the tip on the Fox's Grapes! They should be perfectly positioned then, they'll get morning sun and some early afternoon as well. If they want to multiply freely, we sure won't object!
 
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