hefty, I'd go for seed if you want to get lots of plants . There's a thread on here to swap, so they needn't even cost you anything , other than postage.
wow thanks so much for all the informative advice thing is i do have the patience, but not the experience to keep them alive / overwintered
my overwintered plants (bought new in winter) seem to either grow really leggy or just turn to mush......so i very much doubt id b able to keep a load of plug plants alive for long even tho i check them every day etc they just dont seem to grow properly
i think ill probably pass on that offer then and stick to older plants or try from seed this year
Very fed up with 12 hardy (herbaceous) Geranium Rozeanne plugs bought last Sept.. Potted on in the right JI 2 compost with a little grit, not over or under watered, cold frame thoughout the winter -everything right done, and only one of them survived. Rozeanne plugs are not cheap. Its good that the suppliers are replacing them...but thats 6 months possible root establishment out of the window, ..the replacements won't be here possibly til the end of April and so thats an even slower start to my plan.
I have to admit to using plug plants in the past and I was super pleased with the results. I cared for them until planting out and each plant survived fantastically.
I have also ordered the plant offer above and will nurture them this year and I guess they will be ready next year, if not later on this year.
Oh gosh yes..I've got that one - an absolute monster... I have a feeling it comes to us via 'collections' which we bought at some time. I Love hardy geraniums. I really love them.. especially the bluer ones - but this deepish pink one that I think we both refer to...is to be avoided at all costs...and the trouble is - when its not in flower (when thinning) its so difficult to tell to apart from my precious geraniums. Does anyone have an idea what its name is? Not that that would help me now, but it might help other people avoid it.
Some geraniums have very distinctive leaves - my precious G. Dragonheart - which rambles up and around with occasional single very deep purple flowers - is quite easy to tell apart and (sadly) not invasive at all. The rule seems to be that the ones you would really like to be invasive - e.g. Johnsons and Buxtons blue and maybe also now, Rozeanne are not at all... they hang on to their existence by their finger tips. But then my soil is not encouraging to anything but thugs.
I bought perennial plugs on a simliar deal from T&M last year - and I'd say well over half flowered in the first year - here's a pic of my front garden in Sept 15 containing many of the plugs planted in April 15.
Ones that did flower included echinacea (but not the largest ones on attached), coreopsis, carnations (a few - but already in flower this year!), armelia, delphinium (blue in attached) and the verbena bonariensis (purple in the attached). Hoping for more flowers from this lot for many years to come!
Agree that nothing beats seeds or plants propogated yourself, but these
plugs are great value if you have just a little bit of patience in my opinion .
Thanks Aym280, that's very kind! Yeah, I love Rubekias too - they seem to be flower til mid November if we have another mild autumn! Good luck with your display!
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There's no maybe about it Hosta
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
hefty, I'd go for seed if you want to get lots of plants . There's a thread on here to swap, so they needn't even cost you anything , other than postage.
http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/talkback/seed-and-plant-swap-2016/895135-7.html#replybox
try it Hefty.
wow thanks so much for all the informative advice
thing is i do have the patience, but not the experience to keep them alive / overwintered
my overwintered plants (bought new in winter) seem to either grow really leggy or just turn to mush......so i very much doubt id b able to keep a load of plug plants alive for long
even tho i check them every day etc they just dont seem to grow properly
i think ill probably pass on that offer then and stick to older plants or try from seed this year
thanks everyone
Very fed up with 12 hardy (herbaceous) Geranium Rozeanne plugs bought last Sept.. Potted on in the right JI 2 compost with a little grit, not over or under watered, cold frame thoughout the winter -everything right done, and only one of them survived. Rozeanne plugs are not cheap. Its good that the suppliers are replacing them...but thats 6 months possible root establishment out of the window, ..the replacements won't be here possibly til the end of April and so thats an even slower start to my plan.
I have to admit to using plug plants in the past and I was super pleased with the results. I cared for them until planting out and each plant survived fantastically.
I have also ordered the plant offer above and will nurture them this year and I guess they will be ready next year, if not later on this year.
Oh gosh yes..I've got that one - an absolute monster... I have a feeling it comes to us via 'collections' which we bought at some time. I Love hardy geraniums. I really love them.. especially the bluer ones - but this deepish pink one that I think we both refer to...is to be avoided at all costs...and the trouble is - when its not in flower (when thinning) its so difficult to tell to apart from my precious geraniums. Does anyone have an idea what its name is? Not that that would help me now, but it might help other people avoid it.
Some geraniums have very distinctive leaves - my precious G. Dragonheart - which rambles up and around with occasional single very deep purple flowers - is quite easy to tell apart and (sadly) not invasive at all. The rule seems to be that the ones you would really like to be invasive - e.g. Johnsons and Buxtons blue and maybe also now, Rozeanne are not at all... they hang on to their existence by their finger tips. But then my soil is not encouraging to anything but thugs.
Hi!
I bought perennial plugs on a simliar deal from T&M last year - and I'd say well over half flowered in the first year - here's a pic of my front garden in Sept 15 containing many of the plugs planted in April 15.
Ones that did flower included echinacea (but not the largest ones on attached), coreopsis, carnations (a few - but already in flower this year!), armelia, delphinium (blue in attached) and the verbena bonariensis (purple in the attached). Hoping for more flowers from this lot for many years to come!
Agree that nothing beats seeds or plants propogated yourself, but these
plugs are great value if you have just a little bit of patience in my opinion
.
ah thats great to know - i do have the patience but i dont seem to able to keep young plants alive
Thanks Aym280, that's very kind! Yeah, I love Rubekias too - they seem to be flower til mid November if we have another mild autumn! Good luck with your display!