My Jack Frost not happy! What happened?

Hi Tocky. Just going thro an old post re my Jack Frost and remebered your remark re a little nursery near Halifax....was that Dove Cottage at Hipperholme by any chance?

 

Yes it was, though a few years ago when we called in.

Our JFs are well up and flowering ATM, yours survived ?

 

They looked good in early April but sadly not so much now, tho on inspection there's some new growth in the middle.....It's my own fault as i never got round to planting it out I think it's because I'm not 100% certain where to put it

 

@eddybaby I'm just about to cut off the flowering stems on JF plants where the flowers have gone over. Take the old flowering stems down to the base and the plant will look much tidier. Maybe give the plant a bit of a feed and water if you haven't already done so.
You can remove any leaves that become a bit tatty later in the season. My plants are in the ground where I think they are happier. I often shear them almost to the ground in early July (just as you do with spring flowering geraniums) and they put on nice fresh growth within a couple of weeks.

 

Ours are not as advanced as @Topbird s but they are still in full flower and plenty of strong low down leaves ready to fill out and give a good long display.
We usually leave them into Sept/Oct though they can look a bit untidy but will try Topbirds trick of cutting them down in July to encourage fresh new leaves.

Wonder if yours is getting too much sun or being too dry in the pot?
Also think in the ground will be better, ours in semi shade, bordering on quiet shady.

Again think doing what Topbird suggest in removing those tall stems and getting it in the ground if possible or if in a pot in a shadier location ?

 

Hi Topbird. I did what you suggested and it's definitely 'perked up' I'll also trim back in July. However I'm reluctant to plant it in the ground due to the quality of the soil in the shady spot where it sits now, so daft question I know, would it thrive in a really big pot? TIA

 

@eddybaby - why are you rating the quality of your soil as poor?

I have brunneras thriving in really quite deep shade in unimproved heavy clay.
I also have them growing in quite dry dappled shade where the soil is much thinner - they are a bit less happy there because the soil often dries out in summer.

If you have soil you can improve with some decent compost or farmyard manure I would think it would do better there. If, however, you're happy to keep on top of watering & feeding then it'll probably be ok in the pot. They are fairly tolerant of dry conditions but they prefer not to dry out completely.

As yours is a relatively small plant, I'd just cut off leaves as they become a bit tatty and spent. I wouldn't shear it completely in July unless you can see quite a bit of fresh basal growth. Mine are well established mature plants and can withstand my brutal tratment!

 

Glad we followed your advice as we chopped ours down and they were back in full leaf within the month and surprisingly still in good leaf today instead of the masses of brown holes that we usually get when we did not chop them back.
Thanks !

 

You're very welcome!