Abutilon are semi-tropical ... they can sometimes be kept going outside in very sheltered gardens ... here in Norfolk (even in the city centre) we took them indoors into a conservatory for the winter ... I would've thought they'd be fine where you are @tui34 https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/five-abutilons-to-grow/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks for that @Dovefromabove Although we are more arid down here than semi-tropical, it can be kept watered. I'll see if I can find one at the GC next week - I have found just the spot!!
I would love an Abutilon @Fire - is it too late to plant one now - I'm in the South of France on the coast?
I guess autumn/winter is an easy time for planting shrub/trees as they get the chance to be rained on and the semi-dormacy means the might feel less disturbed by all the shifting. But I think if you keep it really well watered and fed, it should be fine. @tui34
My Nabob is hardy here London, flowering away through snow last year. There a wide variety of cultivars with a big range of colours, but check the hardiness schedules quite carefully.
Nabob is supposed to be a bit tender but I have found it tough (though it's sheltered from the wind in my garden). Down to -5oC it didn't bat an eyelid, stop flowering or drop leaves. And that was as a young plant. I suspect it's even tougher now. I've had it in a pot for about five years and am planning to put it in the middle of my garden this year.
The only downside I can find for this plant is that it can get quite big leaves that can obscure the flowers a bit. But I am hoping the plant will grow tall and tree-ish in its new spot, so the flowers will be ever more visible. Bees love it and I often find them snoozing in the bells. They say you can prune it to be more shrubby, but I am longing for height.
Here’s Stipa Gigantea in my garden, three one litre plants (too close together!) planted May 2018.
Trimmed this week.
@BenCotto have you trimmed them right down like this before? First time I've seen this done with Stipa gigantea. I paintstakingly clipped out all the pale dead leaves on ours last spring but I've never cut the evergreen leaves back. The problem I've had with ours though (which I grew from seed) is that the flower spikes are rarely borne vertically. Last year there were about 50 spikes and most of them came outwards rather than upwards, making it a very wide (although rather stunning) plant
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
I've never trimmed my Stipa Gigantica - all I do is cut down in spring all last year's flowering plumes. Mine's about 10 years old or so and about 1 metre wide. @VictorMeldrew, the plumes on mine are usually vertical, could yours have been suffering from lack of moisture perhaps? Having that, I never water mine, it has to sink or swim!
Flower heads on S Gigantea do grow at a slight angle .It is an evergreen grass but I have always cut it back not quite as far as in photo late February because it is a mess. It never comes to any harm and flowers well. Managed to get S Gold Fontene a few weeks ago should be taller still, we will see.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
@VictorMeldrew, I had a Stipa gigantea with flower stalks that splayed out like yours. Luckily I had enough room for it to do so and it looked wonderful. However, I've since removed it as I wanted to reclaim that space for other plants. There is a variety that is more compact and the flower stalks grow distinctly vertically called Stipa Goldilocks. I guess there are variations within the stocks of each variety. I like tidier grasses like the vertical varieties of Calamagrostis and Panicum which suit a tighter space!
Posts
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/five-abutilons-to-grow/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
@VictorMeldrew, the plumes on mine are usually vertical, could yours have been suffering from lack of moisture perhaps? Having that, I never water mine, it has to sink or swim!