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Gentiana Acaulis (Hamburg) looking unhealthy?
theend00
Posts: 48
Firstly, I'd like to say that I'm very much a beginner to gardening, and that I risk making a bit of a fool of myself , but oh well 
I have recently done some work in my mother's garden and planted several alpine species , all of which look reasonably healthy except for the gentian, which had yellow / orange leaves around the base of its rosette. It was showing some yellow leaves when I bought it from the store, but since transplanting it has worsened, and I was beginning to question if this is just because it is winter, given I have read it is evergreen. Eventually the rosette snapped at its stem, but I can only assume the underground root are still somewhat intact. I have searched the forums and the internet for some clue as to whether this is meant to happen, but there seems to be contradictory advice from site to site.
Is this normal behavior for the plant? And if not is there anything I can do to revive it somehow? I have planted it in full sunlight, compost with an acid ph I presume, the hydrangea not too far from it is pink. The ground more often than not is moist and there is little competition from weeds. It is also surrounded by gravel to protect it, where it 'was' :P
I appreciate any advice
Thank you very much !
John
I have recently done some work in my mother's garden and planted several alpine species , all of which look reasonably healthy except for the gentian, which had yellow / orange leaves around the base of its rosette. It was showing some yellow leaves when I bought it from the store, but since transplanting it has worsened, and I was beginning to question if this is just because it is winter, given I have read it is evergreen. Eventually the rosette snapped at its stem, but I can only assume the underground root are still somewhat intact. I have searched the forums and the internet for some clue as to whether this is meant to happen, but there seems to be contradictory advice from site to site.
Is this normal behavior for the plant? And if not is there anything I can do to revive it somehow? I have planted it in full sunlight, compost with an acid ph I presume, the hydrangea not too far from it is pink. The ground more often than not is moist and there is little competition from weeds. It is also surrounded by gravel to protect it, where it 'was' :P
I appreciate any advice
Thank you very much !John
0
Posts
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you so much for responding!
I am relieved to hear that it is hardy enough to possibly survive. I won't give up on it if it can recover. I suppose I might have damaged it whilst transplanting , that or something has trod on it ? They are my first guesses, though I honestly don't know, it did seem quite delicate from the start.
if it is a drainage problem , which it could very well be, we do have high rainfall as you say in Liverpool, I'll look up ways to improve drainage quickly. It is on a slight slope if that changes anything ? If it is root rot I hope its chances of survival aren't wiped out , I didn't realise it could develop so quickly, plants in distress have given me a lot more warning in the past
Again , many many thanks for your help both of you ! I have a better idea of what's happened
John
I had a similar one in a previous garden, and made sure it was planted in plenty of gritty soil - more grit than soil.
We also have very high rainfall, coupled with heavy clay soil - a bad combination for them!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
In fact - it took me a while to find it the next time too!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
So in other words , it has incredibly unhappy roots too... I think adding lime , improving drainage etc is only going to help so much now for this poor plant