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

Planting perennials for next years flowers

marieS24marieS24 Posts: 23
in Plants
Hi there. I have ordered this months just pay postage plug perennials advertised in this months magazine, there are echinacea, foxglove, doronicum and crazy daisy. I have also planted perennial seeds and successfully got 4 weigela cuttings to root beautifully.  After lots of research recently on perennials and their propagation I am left a little bewildered so would please be very grateful for some information. I want most of these plants to be planted into their final position next spring as our garden is very much a work in progress and our budget will only allow us to move onto the next area of our garden then. Can I grow them on in individual pots and keep them in a cold frame over winter until Next spring or would they need to be in their final position this year if I am to get them to flower next year? I am assuming it is too late for any of them to flower this year? Any information and advice would be gratefully appreciated. Marie. 
«1

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I would have put them in pots to mature a bit anyway.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    edited June 2020
    Hello Marie :)
    I can't see a problem with doing as you suggest, to be honest l would do that myself. Start them in small pots and then pot them on as the roots start to show through the bottom of the pot. By next Spring you should have strong healthy plants to go into their final positions. 
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I wouldn’t have thought any of them, other than maybe the foxglove, would be ready this year and all will be fine maturing in pots over the winter. Just somewhere sheltered like your cold frame or tucked in against a sheltered fence/wall. You want them to be a good size when they go into the garden (like a 1lite plant you’d buy at the GC).
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I inherited a big garden and needed to grow everything from cuttings and seeds and like you bought the first ones as plugs from J. Parker, pot then up for this year, and keep potting on until you have large plants.  Keep protected for the winter and plant out next Spring.

    I sow all my perennials seeds although, usually a bit earlier than this, (March to April,) and keep them in the greenhouse over winter, planting out next April or May.
    If you can get them to big plants before planting out they stand a better chance of surviving slugs.

    You can also sow some seeds in September for overwintering inside. Some need a cold spell to germinate, think about how nature does it, you plant drops it seeds and then lay on the ground over winter popping up in the Spring. 

    The biennial and perennial cottage garden depends on forward planning.  
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Much better to pot them up in a sheltered spot, start off in 9cm pots then move them to 2L if they start to get rootbound. Cluster them together near a hose point to make watering easier.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • marieS24marieS24 Posts: 23
    Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your replies. I feel much happier in the knowledge that my new plants will be safe in pots over winter. The foxgloves will be given away immediately as I have young children who are very actively involved in the planting and care of the garden. 

    Lyn would the perennial seeds sown in September flower next year? 

    Would I need to continue watering the planted up perennials if they are kept in a cold frame over winter? 

    Thank you. Marie. 
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    Why give away your foxglove?  There are hundreds of garden plants which are poisonous, if eaten......you need to teach your children not to eat anything in the garden........same with animals,  many plants are poisonous when ingested......
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    You just need to keep an eye on them over winter,  if they start to dry out just give them a little water to keep them ticking over, but generally speaking l don't water mine from say late November to early March. 
  • marieS24marieS24 Posts: 23
    Hi Mary, I will be sad to give them away and I absolutely agree with you. My children have never eaten anything in the garden (apart from the peas and strawberry’s) but my just turned 3 year old cannot resist burying his face in any bloom to smell it and running his fingers across them so whilst he’s so small I just feel that it’s not worth the risk.  

    Marie. 
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    You mean he wants to be a 🐝 bee lol
Sign In or Register to comment.