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Can anyone help?

hememabehememabe Posts: 12
in Problem solving
Hi, I don't know if anyone knows about this. I have just received an order for some wildflowers, including Skullcap. The other plug plants look like normal plugs ( a bit small though) but the Skullcap. I have no idea what to do with this. What is top and what is bottom. Do I plant it sideways?

Posts

  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    If that were mine I'd just scoop the soil out, lay it flat and cover it over. I planted some anemone nemorosa vestal yesterday and they were just like bits of thin brown twigs so I did what I've just suggested. It seemed a logical thing to do. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Hi Uff, thanx. I have just planted it sideways in a large pot. I covered it half with soil and only a sprinkling the other half because I don't know what it is, doesn't look like roots to me. 
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited September 2022
    The white bits are root, the purple bits are the new shoots.  Best keep it separated, for now though, as it might be a weed.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Thank you. So, do I completely bury the whole thing or just with a sprinkling of soil?
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I'd bury the white parts a bit lower, but as long as only the tips of the purple bits are showing, I don't think it matters. Not sure what it is, but looks like it will cope ok.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Ok, will do. Thank you!!
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Scutellaria lateriflora aka Virginian skullcap is an American wild flower, and a member of the mint family.  I knew that white root with purple shoots reminded me of something... mint also grows that way.  I'd guess it's a spreader.  The Internet says it likes wet soil.  The blue flowers look pretty...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Sounds like pig-in-a-poke.  Did you expect British wild flowers?
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    No, I picked it, along with Bergamot, Black Horehound, Golden Rod, Goat's Rue and Gypsywort. They are all normal plugs. Just the Skullcap seems to be bare root. I am soaking it in water now for a bit, then plant it in a pot. See what happens. But you'd think they would include some information or at least mention on their website that it would be bare root.
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