Success and failure

My Agapanthus that I grew from seed have done really well



my Stocks are miserable specimens.



any tips on how to grow better Stocks would be welcome.

 

Anakat. I can't comment on your stocks as I have never grown them - but they look OK to me. In the first year I often put plants very close together to hold each other up and to give the appearance of a better show.

Congratulations on your Agapanthus, that's a great achievement. How long did they take from seed to flowering? I am currently growing some from seed (sown March 2007) that Roders kindly sent me.

 

I have been given some agapanthus seeds (all the way from California) and am going to try to grow them so any pointers on agapanthus growing would be very handy.

 

HI anakat,

Are those Agapanthus in the ground?
Do you have to protect them in winter?
Is that quite a sheltered position?
etc

Do tell!

Mine are in pots but would love to plant them out.

 

Anakat, my stoks look like yours :(

After growing them for some months I read that seedlings can be selected to obtain 100 % double flowered plants, which make a better show and are more fragrant (easy that, mine are not fragrant AT ALL, grrr). Apparently the trick is to expose the seecdlings to a cooler temperature (10-15 °C) for some days. Then some turn dark green and some pale green, and the pale green are the double flowering. It sounds a bit weird, but I read the same from different sources including the Well Tempered Garden fro C. Lloyd, so I tend to believe it. Next year I will try, if I grow stocks again.

 

Ivory thanks for that, I will try that next year

The agapanthus,
I am no expert. I put the seeds in a pot about March. hardened them off and planted them out the next year. They are in front of the house East facing and not really sheltered, I just leave them to get on with it. They have taken about 5 years to have as many flowers as they have now.
Good luck with yours.

 

The Agapanthus are looking good Anakat, I grow a couple of dozen every year (at work) and sometmes they flower in their second year or within 15 months but they would not be planted out in a perennial border till their third year.
Never need protection here, just need to check for snails hiding in the leaves.:(

As for selectable Stocks, I have to grow only 600 for next years for spring bedding but fortunately now I don't have to select them. It is strange that the stronger green colour is the single flower and the anaemic pale ones are the doubles!

 

Not so strange Strongy: some of our most cherished hybrids are inbread weaklings that can only survive in a garden setting, while the stronger individuals are actually reverting towards the wild form. Still. We want a garden not the forest primeval so go and select them!

 

Thanks Anakat and Strongy for the information on Agapanthus. I think the only solution to long time delays is to have lots of different things at different stages in the pipeline.