Agapanthus

FrancieBrady

Haven’t had much luck with one of my favourites. Lost so many to frost.

Had two last year which flowered but I maybe kept too warm over winter. They didn’t die back and haven’t flowered this year.

Do I just wait until next year?

looksee

There's a bit of discussion about agapanthus over in the Compost Heap thread, two with poor results this year and one with good flowering. Mine don't die back, other than the flowers of course, but they usually flower well. This year only two flowers. Did you take them indoors over winter? I just leave them out, they are in the ground. I believe they prefer to have the roots confined so do well in a pot. I'd just leave them and see how they do next year.

The only issue I have with mine is that the flowers usually collapse - tied up a bit or staked they are fine, but they will not stand on their own. This year's meagre flowers are small so they are still standing.

FrancieBrady

They are in pots. I took them in to an unheated shed and covered them loosely with bubble wrap. Supplier told us they wouldn’t survive hard frost.
The ones we had before died back and leaves went brown.
Always had the ‘falling over’ issue. Will let them be and see how they go. Miss them this year

looksee

I suppose hardiness depends on where you live, I am in the south east, reasonably high but they are a bit sheltered by a hedge and are a big, solid clump. I reckon they have been in a good few years, maybe 10 to 15, I inherited them.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122419018#Comment_122419018

Monaghan/Fermanagh border here. Puts me off planting them out.
The supplier, was able to pinpoint the night our last pair died. A particularly hard frost even though they were in an unheated greenhouse.
Have you or anyone ever tried splitting them btw?

looksee

I doubt they would be splittable (is that a word? 😀) They are a very solid mass nearly a metre across, I reckon you would need a digger to get them out. The theory is that they prefer to be overcrowded to get them to flower, so I would be inclined to just leave them.

They are in a very free-draining patch of land - afaik the ground under them is a layer of soil then several feet of 804 - type infill that was put in to raise the ground by about 3-4 ft, which probably helps them survive frost.

The Continental Op

There is only one answer when it comes to growing Agapanthus and thats drainage. Used to have acres of the things growing in Surrey in a garden that went down to minus 14 degrees centigrade one year. However if you've read my posts about my gardening in the UK you'll know I was gardening on Bagshot sand which is by name let alone definition well drained.

To give you an idea how much Agapanthus was in the garden and how well it grew on Bagshot sand I used to divide some plants up each year and give away a trailer load I didn't have room for.

There is one caveat to that. I wasn't growing any of the tender varieties. If your Agapanthus is supposed to be evergreen then it isn't hardy. I'm down by the sea now in Waterford and the likes of Agapanthus africanus (tender/evergreen) will grow well but get knocked back hard in a bad winter. Drainage is good in most of the garden here and the hardy ones grow fine despite occasionally getting downed by flooding.

As for flowering the plants prefer not to be disturbed and like to be a little root bound and dryish but after flowering making sure they are kept well watered is supposed to help the following years flowering.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122419161#Comment_122419161

Didn't know there were 'hardy varieties', any recomendations?

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122419258#Comment_122419258

All the Africanus or varieties of them are much of a muchness with hardiness. The secret is as above drainage or in pots dryness, so make sure they're as dry as possible for the winter and don't water. They should be fine in a greenhouse really, maybe the shed was a bit too dark for them. Wrap the pots in bubble wrap rather than the leaves, as it's the roots that need protection rather than the growth.

The Continental Op

When you have hundreds of the things that were grown by someone by seed in the early 1950's, its hard to say what variety they were, we thought about naming some of them ourselves. Best guess is that they were Agapanthus Headbourne Hybrids, which is know as the hardiest group.

Poulgorm

I raised the issue of the lack of flowers in the Compost forum. Mine are in the ground throughout the Winter and are about 8 years old. Bought them as plants. I am on elevated ground and they die back if we get heavy frost. But they grow again, once the weather gets milder. This year, they did not die back fully, as the winter was relatively mild (I only had to defrost the windscreen of my car only a handful of times).

They are growing very vigorously and have multiplied. But only a handful of flower heads have formed.

I gave them a thick overlay of garden compost in the Spring. Is it possible that they got too much nitrogen from the compost & are just concentrating on growing & multiplying?

I don't know. My theory may be BS!

The Continental Op

Sounds to me like they aren't that hardy and getting too cold over winter.

Too much nitrogen won't help but don't think thats the root cause.

standardg60

Couple of things for me, one being the cold spring and early summer months won't have helped with flowering, and the other is sometimes when you get a really good flowering year the plant naturally takes a break the following year to replenish itself, so more growth and less flowers.

A bit of rose feed next spring would help too.

Poulgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122420631#Comment_122420631

You could well have a valid point there - this year was cold until mid June. And exceptionally wet as well.

Also, with other flowering shrubs and plants, I have noticed over the years that they occasionally take a break from flowering.

For example, I have a variety of Dogwood (at least I think it is a dogwood), that is normally covered in cream flowers. Last year, for the first time, it had very few flowers - I thought it was dying. This year, lo and behold, it put on its most stunning display ever.

But it is odd that so many people seem to have a problem with Agapanthus this year.