@GardenerSuze The leaves are around 60-70cm. I did wonder if they were Emily Mckenzie as there was apparently a patch of them next to the ones I was given, but when I searched online, Emily Mckenzies looked more yellow.
One of my favourite plant as mostly do not need to much work and still produce beautiful flowers. This year they struggled, heat and lack of water gave them very hard time. Hope they will bounce back next year.
So sad to see. I have grown Lucifer and Hellfire which is about the same height slightly later and darker red. As@Lyn has said both have lovely leaves but have a habit if falling over. C Short Red is wonderful if you can find it and one of my favourites. In a big border in a deep soil C Zeal's Giant is stunning. Some flower at different times so worth considering.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
@Lyn “ My orange ones are frazzled, the whole patch looks like the cats been sleeping in the middle of them” - ditto! Except I think In my case it was a hippo 😆 The flattened, brown leaves look dreadful and although they have put out a few miserly flowers since we had some rain, the whole patch is a bit of an eyesore. Lucifer looks even worse and didn’t manage a single flower.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
My Lucifer fared better than the orange ones. When they get to the brown stage I never cut them, leaving raggedy edges, I pull them right out from the base, leaving the soil clean and neat.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Well, I suppose we can all take some slight consolation that’s it’s nothing that we’ve done, but rather it’s down to the scorching heat in July and August. Let’s hope it’s a gentler summer next year. Im in the Doncaster area too @JennyJ, and I agree, Sheffield does seem to get more rain and snow in normal times than we do.
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When they get to the brown stage I never cut them, leaving raggedy edges, I pull them right out from the base, leaving the soil clean and neat.
Im in the Doncaster area too @JennyJ, and I agree, Sheffield does seem to get more rain and snow in normal times than we do.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful