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Do agapanthus sulk?

EmptyheadtimeEmptyheadtime Posts: 366
in Plants
I bought my first Agapanthus about 6 weeks ago. It was a bare root plant that had a wee bit of green showing. I potted it up but it's barely done anything. There are a few healthy green leaves about 2 inches long (most of which were there when I got it). In April I had it outside during the day when weather permitted and its been outside all the time for over a week now as our weather has been OK. Everything else on the garden is beginning to take off except the Agapanthus. Do they just take a bit to get going?

Posts

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    @Emptyheadtime Ours are outdoors all year round, in pots. They are not the evergreen and slightly tender variety, but hardy, deciduous ones. They always take a while to get going in Spring, even when it is warm, and only have a few inches showing at the moment.

    It's a good idea to water them regularly, and to give them a liquid feed every week or so from now until well after flowering. This will make it more guaranteed that you will get a good flush of flowers. With regular watering and feeding they should be fine. 

    Do you know which variety they are? If it's one of the tender varieties, you should keep an eye on frosts, and be prepared to bring them in for the night, or to wrap them in fleece when necessary.

  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I bought my agapanthus as plants and I've never grown a bare root one but it makes sense that it might take a while to settle in, any bare root plant does. I imagine it's a shock to the system being dug out, left around for a while and then put somewhere that is alien to them. Possibly they might take a while to flower.
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I agree with @Uff From a bare root I think there will be slow progress. You may not have flowers this year as it will take time to grow and settle. Feed and water is the key to getting flowers.  The evergreen Agapanthus are not hardy here but I have grown the deciduous Navy Blue  for years which flowers really welll in the ground. If you plant in a pot by a wall the stems and flowers bend away from the wall so the taller ones can almost fall over. Light all around seems to help. The roots like to be fairly tight in a pot this seems to aid flowering but not to the point there is nothing to grow in. My plants are at the edge of a path.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You've only had it five minutes. Patience is needed. 
    They need to establish roots first, before anything happens above ground. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    If you buy Agapanthus at a GC in flower they are always expensive. The grower has take a small piece and taken time to care for it. You are at the start of this process. Good Luck
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • EmptyheadtimeEmptyheadtime Posts: 366
    Thanks for the replies. It's an agapanthus umbellatus. I guess I need to be more patient. Its just when I compared it to the other bare roots/bulbs I got at the same time it seemed a bit behind (photo shows the dahlia and peony I started on the same day). I will start to give it a good feed now.

  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    @Emptyheadtime - I also bought bare root agapanthus last winter, and last summer they were pathetic - small, and didn't flower at all. But I think they just need time to establish.

    Those same plants this year have so far already put on more growth than they ever did through the whole of last year. I had overwintered them in the greenhouse and brought them outside about a month ago. 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    They don't sulk, but they do have feelings! If you divide them, they seldom flower in the first year after and a baby like that will take time to recover from all the disturbance. I wouldn't expect flowers this year and possibly not for another one or two, depending on the variety. Well worth the wait, though.
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