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At the risk of hearing a collective groan........

adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
in Plants
Agapanthus. Again. Sorry I did scour the boards with a search for this subject but didnt find an answer. I am stumped. Last year my previously very prolific agapanthus patches produced no flowers at all.  Put it down to the weather.  This year, the ones in the ground are showing leaves already, so I don't know if they will go on to produce flowers, but the three pots I have which contain agapanthus are bare soil.  I am tempted to dig down and see if there is any sign of life but don't want to disturb them if there's a chance they' will appear.  Could frost have killed them off ?  We are in London, but I thought the deciduous ones were virtually indestructible.  Long and short, how long should I wait till I give it up as a bad job and repurpose the pots for something else?  thanks all
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  • rowlandscastle444rowlandscastle444 Posts: 2,612
    My opinion would be to re-purpose the pots. My repotted ones were a bit hit and miss this year, but I did divide a huge one last autumn.
    Those that are showing leaves, got the reprieve. Those that didn't, due to the cold (I'm in the Medway Towns, north Kent) I dug out recently. There were root balls, but no life.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    You may have had this answer previously (apologies). Flowering depends on watering and feeding the plants just after they flower the year before. If the plants appear healthy but they don't flower, most likely cause is they didn't get enough water in the early autumn.
    The ones in pots - all my deciduous ones are showing now, even the late ones, so I think it would be time now to have a very careful scuffle about in the soil to see if you can find any shoots below soil level. I have lost a few this year - the combination and sequence of cold and wet seems to have been exactly right for killing agapanthus, so you might have lost them. 
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
    NO LIFE!  Oh dear.  You're probably right.  Thinking cap on then for something nice and tall.  Thank you for your advice, you will have similar weather to us.  Have a good weekend all 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Deciduous Agapanthus in pots - wet then freezing - much more vulnerable than in the ground. 

    A bridge too far for lots of plants - even for reasonably tough ones. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    I'm a sort-of aga specialist.  I have spent this morning sorting out my dead aga pots.  And that is after 40+ years.  

    A few tiny sprouts on one plant that might take 3 years to recover (if they recover).

    It's back to the drawing board.  In my case re-purchasing my favourites.  So no evergreens, and deciduous in the greenhouse to overwinter.
     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."
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I took a deep breath and investigated all my agapanthus pots yesterday. None had any sign of life so I was fairly sure what I would find. All lost and have now joined all my dahlias in the compost heap 🥲
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • adamadamantadamadamant Posts: 278
    Just did the same.  MUSH!
    Back to the drawing board, and thank you all for your advice and help 

  • rowlandscastle444rowlandscastle444 Posts: 2,612
    These are the only survivors. Still undecided where to put the third one.
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    Not referring to agapanthus, but I'm shocked at how many plants I lost last winter.  Some are clearly not resting or slow to show.  They are definitely dead, defunct, they breathe no more, to misquote Monty Python.
  • ObsessedPlantswomanObsessedPlantswoman Posts: 69
    So agree. I have lost 3 expensive huge African agapanthus, 1passiflora, 1 new salvia amistad ( which didn’t make it out of its pot), 2 mallow, 1 banana plant, 20 year old osteospernum and  Chamaerops Humilis Fan Palm- isn’t this supposed to be bomb proof?


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