Persicaria 'red dragon' advice please!

Hi, I'm a newbie to this forum!

I have two lovely Persicaria 'red dragon' that I've had for at least 10 years. I really like them, and they like our well-drained chalky soil.

However, we had 2 days of horrendous strong winds last week (live in East Yorkshire near the coast) and it has battered them. The stems are all splayed out, and most of the leaves are gone, or just completely dried out and withered. Watering and a few days to recover seems to have made no difference.

Just wondering if it would help, or make things worse, if I were to cut back the plant low to the ground. Would it produce new stems? Or best just to leave it?

Thanks

Alan

 

Forgot to attach a picture!

 

I would try and stake it, but it might produce new stems if you cut it back.

 

Hi I grow this and like you have done for years. It is very vigerous and don’t think it will mind being cut back in the slightest. I have a clump close to one of the lawns ( lawn, hmm short meadow with about 80% moss!). Sometimes the odd stem falls over onto the grass and depending on my mood and whether I can really be bothered to start the lawn tractor again as it has wretched safety features ( if you get off the engines stops, obviously built in with morons in mind!) I just run over the stem. Within a couple of weeks new growth appears from where the stem was cut.
It is really easy to take cuttings so you could always use what you cut off to make new plants. Just stick the top about 4 or 5 inches in a jar of water having removed most of the leaves. The cuttings will root really quickly.

 

I cut mine back from time to time when the stems get badly floppy and it grows back in no time, so I think yours will too. I also root cuttings in water - they're very quick and easy, and when they've made roots I plant several to a lite or so pot to grow on for a while before planting out as a clump.