Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Fairy Ring Plants!

NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
in Plants
Earlier today, I unpacked my latest plant order (12cm pots) and the Achillea Perrys White has shoots all around the outside of the pot but none in the middle. I also noticed my Crocosmia Emily McKensie, planted in an irregular wedge shape last year, are all shooting up around the edges of a perfect circle with an empty middle, like a fairy ring. What’s going on there? 
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Many plants naturally do this and is why we need to divide them every few years.  The new fresh growth is produced on the outside of the clumps and the centre either dies out or becomes less productive.  I've nearly rid my garden of the common orange montbretia which grow like a weed here.  In some of the larger clumps I've removed, there was actually no soil left in the centre - just a mass of woody corms about 18" across and a foot deep.  Needed a barrow of topsoil the fill the hole!
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    I can't say for that Achillea, but it is possible that small pots of plants like Crocosmias are usually small wedges of a larger clump and some are so thick, parts of the base will not grow, you may have been cut a section that only part grows. This is the same for a lot of other perennials.

    Bear in mind, it is still quite early in the year, not all of the base area grows out at the same time. Hopefully, once they are planted out, they will soon thicken up when it gets warmer.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Thanks @BobTheGardener, yes  I see how that would happen after a few years, but my Emily Mac corms were planted less than a year ago, should that be happening so soon?  They also seem to be completely ignoring the wedge shaped ‘drift’ I planted them in, the devils!

    The new Achilleas are only little plants, if the roots look a bit congested, is it worth trying to split them already, when I pot them on, do you think?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Just missed your post, borderline - the crocosmias I planted new corms last year, I was comparing growth patterns with the new little Achilleas!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    all the sedums I took as cutting last year have come back as a ring around the edge of the pot


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    That seems a bit weird, nut if you planted the cuttings in the middle - not just me then, its like they are trying to escape the confines of their pots!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    just one cutting given its own pot after rooting Nollie. 


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    With regard to the new 12cm Achillea Perrys White plants, I potted them on today and all the little green growth around the outside of the pot were attached to long white stems/shoots wrapped several times around the outside of the top half of the pot, but the actual roots weren’t pot bound. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it or what to do other than pot them on as they were. Is this normal?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Sign In or Register to comment.