Agapanthus

[Kittiwake]

Mine have been very disappointing this year, of the four I've got, one flowered in late August, two didn't flower at all and one only actually flowered about three weeks ago which I thought was very late. They've been in about four years and were pretty good the first year and I'm wondering if the last two hard winters have taken their toll. The soil is very free draining and they're all in full sun. I covered them over with about 3 in of mulch at the beginning of last winter but I wonder if either that should have been thicker or if I should start feeding them earlier in the spring? I used Phostrogen as a feed and also added quite a lot of home-made compost and commercial soil improver because the soil is pretty poor.

Any suggestions about what I might be doing wrong?

[piskieinboots]

Mine were rubbish and shy with their flowers this year too - I believe two issues that can cause this is a) drought, which we had aplenty in early Spring and b) frost, which we had aplenty for the last two years!

I guess even with protection the last two winters have been so extreme. I'm going to try moving mine into the greenhouse this winter and see if that helps any.

Apparently, keeping them moist until the throughout Autumn should help them next year - hopefully.

[Kittiwake]

Ta for that - makes me feel better that I'm not the only one. We've had a reasonable amount of rain just lately so I think I'll make sure they're moist and then maybe mulch around them earlier that I would normally to keep the moisture in. I usually wait til the leave have died back. Are yours in pots or will you dig them up and move them to the greenhouse (probably a stoopid question)?

[piskieinboots]

Not a stupid question at all I often wonder the same when I see posters say they will 'put them in the greenhouse'

In this case mine are in long-tom pots (as are my cannas) so easy enough to move them inside - if they weren't in pots I'd probably try with a mass of mulch for warmth.