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Euphorbia characias wulfenii turning yellow. Should I move it?
Stripeytoothpaste
Posts: 2
Hiya,
Novice gardener here.
I started cultivating my first proper garden this year and decided to dig a new border/ bed along my lawn.
On a whim I bought a Euphorbia characias wulfenii from a local nursery and put it in the ground without much further thought. I did notice when digging out the new bed that the soil seemed quite heavy, with a fair bit of clay (it's all sticky and thick). Now the Euphorbia has begun turning yellow... After a quick skim of various boards I see that clay isn't ideal for this plant. Given the time of year what can I do? Should I dig it out and add some sand to aid drainage? or should I get it out altogether and put it in a pot?
I did look at past posts concerning Euphorbia, but didn't identify any that seemed to answer my specific query.
Many thanks!
Novice gardener here.
I started cultivating my first proper garden this year and decided to dig a new border/ bed along my lawn.
On a whim I bought a Euphorbia characias wulfenii from a local nursery and put it in the ground without much further thought. I did notice when digging out the new bed that the soil seemed quite heavy, with a fair bit of clay (it's all sticky and thick). Now the Euphorbia has begun turning yellow... After a quick skim of various boards I see that clay isn't ideal for this plant. Given the time of year what can I do? Should I dig it out and add some sand to aid drainage? or should I get it out altogether and put it in a pot?
I did look at past posts concerning Euphorbia, but didn't identify any that seemed to answer my specific query.
Many thanks!
0
Posts
if you have a pot you can stick it in, it's certainly worth digging it out and potting it for the winter. If it's not been in there long, it won't have grown enormously, so pick something a bit bigger than the pot it came in, and dig round it to get as much rootball as you can, and pop it in. It'll be fine, and you can just let it tick along over winter.
Then get some well rotted manure, compost [nice light stuff] or spent stuff if you've grown any annuals, and grit, rather than sand, and add that to your border, where you want to plant it. You can mix it all up and dig it in, or just put it on the border and it'll settle over winter itself. If you can get gritty sand, that's fine but the wrong sort of sand [builders' sand for mortar] makes the problem worse. Improving the soil structure is the best way to ensure that plants thrive.
Wait until spring, and then replant, and if you feel the ground is still a bit heavy, you can plant it on a little mound of soil, so that it's placed a bit higher. That should help. You would still water it in well until it grows away itself
They're very tough plants, so it should be fine once it establishes over next summer.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I know what I'm doing this afternoon then!
It's always difficult without seeing the location etc too. I'm assuming you have other plants in the border that are ok? An empty border dug out from a lawn can be soggy until there's lots of planting in it too
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...