In my experience, it's patience that is needed. Mine were a few lifted from my childhood garden and looked very feeble for a few years. It's only in the past year or two that they have got their feet in and look more numerous and happy.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
I thought there were quite rampant. They are woodland plants so they like dappled shade. They also prefer moist soil with plenty of compost. There would be leaf mould in a woodland. Mine suffered last year in the heat and drought.
Planting in dry soil in full sun would contribute to failure.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
It's difficult to imagine them failing - they take a few years to settle in but then they're pretty thuggish spreaders, filling the ground with a mass of roots. Not too difficult to hoik out when they get where I don't want them though.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I think they are one of "those plants", they either "do" for you, in which case they often become rampant, or you find them impossible to establish. Winter Aconites are another.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
I think it's more a matter of them being quite rampant if you give them time to do so. Obviously if they die that's another matter, but a lot of people would have counted mine as failing / struggling if they'd seen them for the first five years. I now fully expect them to become the thugs my mother loved and hated in equal measure!
Edited to add: I have a very dry, North-facing garden. In shade for half the year and areas of both dry, full sun and dry shade for the other half. Which would go some way to explaining how long they have taken to establish - but not completely, as I have heard similar experiences from friends who have more moist soils than mine.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
I was given some last year and they were absolutely ravaged by slugs/snails. They have come back this year and have flower buds but hardly any leaf because the slugs/snails have demolished them again.
We do have persistent moluscs here though, they have completely stripped some of our hydrangeas as well and had a go at the foxgloves.
I tried several times to grow them and failed miserably. Then a friend gave me some roots and I read they have almost tap roots which need to be planted straight down into the soil. I potted the roots into a large container, roots straight down and they flowered every year, until I accidently threw them away when dormant. The last year I had them some even had bright red berries on them in the autumn. I grieve for them as I managed to have some in flower for my daughter's wedding when we put a small posy of the flowers on top of the wedding cake.
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They are woodland plants so they like dappled shade. They also prefer moist soil with plenty of compost. There would be leaf mould in a woodland. Mine suffered last year in the heat and drought.
Planting in dry soil in full sun would contribute to failure.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Edited to add: I have a very dry, North-facing garden. In shade for half the year and areas of both dry, full sun and dry shade for the other half. Which would go some way to explaining how long they have taken to establish - but not completely, as I have heard similar experiences from friends who have more moist soils than mine.
We do have persistent moluscs here though, they have completely stripped some of our hydrangeas as well and had a go at the foxgloves.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border