Feeding Agapanthus.

I have bought 3 varieties of Agapanthus and intend growing them in pots/tubs as feel they might struggle to survive outside in the winter here in Scotland. I am presuming they will need fed to encourage them to flower/ increase. Would something like Tomato feed be ok? Would be ideal as could feed them at the same time (maybe not as much?) as when feeding my Tomatoes. I grew a few Agapanthus years ago and lost them despite them being in a cold greenhouse over winter. The new ones I've bought are meant to be of the more hardy varieties. Any tips on what's good/not good for them would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Tomato feed is perfect. Regarding the hardiness, what compost are you using in the pots? They like the soil or compost to be free draining so maybe its the wet that's killing them rather than the cold...

 

Thanks very much NCFCcrazy. The ones I lost were in a cold greenhouse over the winter and I didn't water them at all from memory during the winter. It did go down to -25for a brief period, that's really cold even for us and I reckon that's what polished off my last batch of Agapanthus. We have never been anywhere near as cold since thank god! The compost I use is a mix of my own garden compost with added well rotted horse manure and if needing good drainage I usually mix in about 1/10th sharp sand and always put loads of crocks in the bottom of any pots I'm planting into. Would this mixture be ok for them? Would I be better to plant them in the garden in a sunny spot rather than in pots if they are hardier than I presume they are. We have good drainage here (acid soil) and the part of Scotland I live in is actually quite dry, unlike the West coast where you basically have to be aquatic to flourish, and I mean humans!!!!

 

I have 3 in pots :-) and i feed tomato feed every time i just remember to.

last year i didn't cover any of them and thought i had killed two of them but they grew back and flowered

This year I covered all 3 over winter with fleece. One died back the others kept their leaves and now are all producing flower buds

Mine have gravel in the bottom of pots and just compost with nothing mixed in and a layer of gravel at the top.

so not the best drainage in the world and they get very wet but they seem to be fine so I'm not sure what i'm doing right

I just leave them to it to be honest

 

The Deciduous ones tend to me more hardy, I have my Evergreen ones in pots (can't remember but either 10L or 15L) and bring them in for the Winter. The ones "left out" are just Headbourne Hybrids that I grew from seed and no great loss if they succumb to a cold winter. Their job is to bulk-up the border, and then folk wandering around ignore them and go "Oh My! What's that one" for the more interesting ones - well ... that's the plan anyway!

I am also inclined to plunge-plant pots of Agapanthus so that the roots are constrained - supposed to help flowering if they are congested, but I suspect that a big clump has the same effect.

If you are leaving them out they'll need a dry mulch (I should really do that even for my Headbourne Hybrids - but for the fact they are "disposable")

I use a balanced feed whist they are growing, and then Tomato-like fertiliser. They are potted with JI#3 mixed with about 20% grit. (I don't put gravel in the bottom of the pots 'coz of the issue with water not moving between substrates, so it makes the soil more water-logged, but for some things that want really sharp drainage I do put gravel under the pots when I plunge-plant them, in case of a wet summer - or, perhaps worse, a really wet Autumn such that when the pots come in they are sodden. Plan B for a wet autumn is to put a plastic sheet around the plant, in September, so that heavy rain is "shed" around, but not into, the pot. It will still capillary-up from under of course, so I may only be kidding myself! but if we get another wet Autumn like last year I plan to do that for all plunge-planted plants that will be coming in for the winter)

Which? did a survey of top varieties, including over Winter outside 2009/10, which included a northern garden location. The best performers where Northern Star, inapertus 'Midnight Cascade’, Headbourne Hybrids and 'Peter Pan’ (too short for me).

The ones I have (not of any relevance, per se, just adding to the conversation) are:
Agapanthus 'Africanus'
Agapanthus Aquamarine
Agapanthus Black Pantha
Agapanthus Dr Brouwer
Agapanthus inapertus - v. tall
Agapanthus inapertus hollandii (trying from seed)
Agapanthus Isis - short
Agapanthus Purple Cloud (tall!)
Agapanthus Queen Mum (nice bi-coloured flowers)
Agapanthus praecox ssp orientalis cv 'Tall White' (trying from seed)
Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud'(trying from seed - enormous!)

and the ones on my WishList are:

Agapanthus Caulescens subsp. Angustifolius
Agapanthus Enigma
Agapanthus Flore Pleno
Agapanthus Glenavon aka Fragrant Glen
Agapanthus Hoyland's Chelsea Blue
Agapanthus Intermedius
Agapanthus Jack's Blue - really REALLY tall!
Agapanthus Loch Hope
Agapanthus Peter Franklin
Agapanthus Snow Cloud (Fragrant Snow)

 

Well that is me given the definitive disaster proof answer. I hadn't a clue that there were so many varieties . I did get Headbourne Hybrids as thought I'd better start my collection with something fairly bomb proof and also have White Umbrella and Purple Cloud. If I manage not to kill these and they over winter here ok then I will invest in some more varieties next season. Think I'll definitely keep mine in pots until they hopefully have bulked up a bit and then experiment with a few planted out so if they leg up I haven't lost the lot. Great advice and much appreciated

 

Can I add my question to this list ? I am growing three agapanthus bulbs in pot with only ji3 and gravel at the base. I planted them 2-3 months ago. the plants hv their leaves out about 6 inch high... i wasnt aware tht we should be feeding them i thought fresh compost is enough.. should i feed them now? When can you tell if they r going to flower this year or not?

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Think it depends on the variety

Here is one of mine that has loads of flowers growing



Then here is my other one thats always later so doesn't have any signs of flowers yet



And i feed mine now because they have been in those pots for 2 years now with no fresh compost

But doesn't compost only provide feed for 2 weeks anyway?

 

Oh i didnt know tht! But wouldnt tht be for a grown up plant as compared to bulbs who hv food of their own and leaves just started to come out.. i m so confused vd feed flower balance.. too less plants dont grow , too muuch theu don flower...

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@Dips mine doesnt look like any of those pots.. its just small 2-3 leaves each bulb nd not as tall

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Have u got a pic?

 

Nah, just One Opinion ... it would be worth considering others' too

Worth a look at Avon Bulbs
http://www.avonbulbs.co.uk/spring-planted-bulbs-and-snowdrops/agapanthus/c65/Catalog.aspx?size=0
(their website tends not to show, or to price, things that are "out of season", which i think is pants - I need to know what they stocked last Autumn, and what price it was then, to decide if I want to shop from that supplier THIS Autumn - if they don't have it then / different price / additional varieties that's fine). Anyways:

Anglia Bulbs may be cheaper, but smaller range.
http://www.angliabulbs.com/agapanthus/

I got some from CGF - they will be potted so probably can buy any-time-of-year.
http://www.cgf.net/plants.aspx?id=8&hid=6&genus=AGAPANTHUS
(shows all plants that Bob has choosen to list, along with Bob's Score [always a good indicator!], but CGF don't sell everything that they list)

Worth looking for some decent "buckets" then (and finding out what size you need - I'll check mine later on). I got some robust black plastic pots so they will survive for many years. They are quite vertical-sided, compared to regular pots - they are the type called "Shallow Container Pot".
e.g. http://www.lbsbuyersguide.co.uk/10ltr-shallow-container-pot.html

Recommended to me by the head gardener at Bennington Lordship - they had loads in pots that they overwinter under cover. Plenty, too, that had been split and were being grown-back-on in a nursery area - i.e. until they started flowering well enough to be included back into the herbaceous planting.

Depends on the compost - I reckon the cheaper ones skimp on feed; posh ones can have slow-release feed included and you don't need to do anything for 6-12 months .... I prefer to buy "no food" or minimal feed / cheap and then I can just fertilise from day one and I know where I am, so to speak.

If you give a flowering plant a lot of Nitrogen it will make a lot of growth - and may not flower/well. That's a bit different to giving it a balanced feed. So my view would be "balanced feed" at the start - even some high-Nitrogen to get it going, at the start of the season - and then a high potash fertilise (e.g. Tomato) when it flowers / fruits, or to build up a Bulb for next year - e.g. Daffs [before the leaves die down].

If you want a simple formula then I always use Chicken Poo Pellets at planting time - annuals, perennials, shrubs, the lot. But not when I am Autumn planting. I put some in the planting hole (a handful does 3 - 5 plants if small [coming out of modules], or a single plant if coming out of, say, a 3L container) i.e. that is "under" the plant, and then I put the same again "around" the surface of the plant and cover it (so just before final shovel of soil back around a big plant, or around module planted things and then hoe in a bit, or just "disturb" the soil with a hand-fork or similar - just so that it is incorporated. It can then start dissolving in the soil, whereas if you just leave it on the surface and the weather is dry it will do nothing until the next rain, and may encourage foxes etc. in the meantime.

New Agapanthus probably won't flower/much. They like to be a decent clump / crowded, and not to be disturbed - which they will have been in getting them into a container, and you then planting them. I suppose transplanted from a container into a slightly larger pot [by you] might not be much disturbance, but either way they are going to look a lot better in years 2/3

 

I bought rhizomes/bulbs and hv put them in pots so i guess looking forward fr them to flower next year.. vl give them tomato feed this weekend.... thanks kirsten this is so helpful... you are a star

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That's fine ... but until they start to flower (which might be next year) General Fertiliser would be better (if all you have si Tomato that is certainly "good enough")

 

Actually its the opposite.. vl hv to buy tomato.. lol...

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