That is impressive......mine 'Giants' aren't so giant this year either the first one flowered at 2.5 feet, the other 2 have yet to flower, one is 4 feet and the third is 5 feet high. Really strange as they were all planted at the same time, in the same area of the garden.
Well I found them easy, ‘Bees, but I think that was accident rather than design, given others I tried (nicotiana, rudbeckia, salvia, gaura) withered and died.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I bought myself some seeds and I've managed to get the first one to germinate. I think a battle against legginess is going to be my first battle. I don't have a green house and my only window where I can grow plants isn't going to provide enough light.
Trying to add a bunch of tall plants to my collection this year; Verbena bonariensis, Rudbeckia laciniata Herbstsonne and Veronicastrum virginicum lavendelturm are on the list so far.
I don't think legginess matters too much with Tithonia. When I grew them the young plants looked awful, then I planted them out and forgot about them. One day in summer I realised I had these bright gorgeous flowers soaring above my flower borders.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
My window sills don’t get much light either, @ForTheBees. Once germinated, I put the seed tray outside during the day to give them a light boost, you could try that, especially since the weather in the UK is meant to be really good this Easter.
They did put on a beautiful, big show, were heaving with flowers and bees and much admired by visitors but I think they should come with a health warning! I planted them as fillers at the stated spacing, but my young Arbutus Unedo and Pittosporum Tenuifolium Purpureum were so overshadowed by the unexpectedly giant and very hungry plants that it caused severe dieback on both. The Pittosporum has not recovered. The Arbutus is clinging on, lopsidedly. Only one of five new Heleniums in front of them have come back. Hopefully, they won’t get so big and domineering for you, but just just a word of caution if planting them next to immature plants!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I guess such tall plants have an inherent structural nature that resists the issues of legginess. Given they seem easy enough to germinate I'll experiment with some different levels of indoor/outdoor time and see which ones come out strongest and which ones I kill...
I was planning on trying to keep them in a generously sized container rather than in the ground and see how that goes. The area for them in my small garden is currently all gravelled.
Posts
Trying to add a bunch of tall plants to my collection this year; Verbena bonariensis, Rudbeckia laciniata Herbstsonne and Veronicastrum virginicum lavendelturm are on the list so far.
They did put on a beautiful, big show, were heaving with flowers and bees and much admired by visitors but I think they should come with a health warning! I planted them as fillers at the stated spacing, but my young Arbutus Unedo and Pittosporum Tenuifolium Purpureum were so overshadowed by the unexpectedly giant and very hungry plants that it caused severe dieback on both. The Pittosporum has not recovered. The Arbutus is clinging on, lopsidedly. Only one of five new Heleniums in front of them have come back. Hopefully, they won’t get so big and domineering for you, but just just a word of caution if planting them next to immature plants!
I was planning on trying to keep them in a generously sized container rather than in the ground and see how that goes. The area for them in my small garden is currently all gravelled.