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Butterfly garden

4 Comments on Butterfly garden»

1. I planted 12 Liatris bulbs this spring. Only two matured enough (very tall - height to about 30″) and bloomed. The other 10 grew to a height of about five inches and did not bloom. They are all in the same area. What happened?

   Storage and size can affect the growth rate of each individual corm. Perhaps you had a mix of quality. Sometimes it takes more than a year for Liatris to get mature enough to bloom. Wait till next year. they are great for attracting butterflies.

   Comment by Joann G — 3/23/2007 @ 9:56 am

2. I have 2 mini sunflower plants in my flower bed and the blooms seem to dying off and new ones are about to open. Do I need to remove the dead heads?

   Mini sunflowers don’t produce much of a seed head and that would be the only reason to keep it, so I would remove the dead flower to encourage the new ones to open. Allowing a flower to mature to produce a seed head takes a lot of energy from the plant, by removing it you stimulate the plant to produce more flowers and prolong their bloom time.

   Comment by lori — 10/9/2007 @ 7:16 am

3. Do you cut back Purple Coneflower in the fall for winter protection? If so, how? Any other tips for winterizing Purple Coneflower?

   There are two ways to approach wintering perennials: Purple coneflower can be left as is. The seed heads will feed the birds during the winter. It will also disperse seeds and can produce more seedlings next year which may or may not be a good thing. The other way is to cut down the stems leaving up to 6 inches of the stem. The remaining stem stubs will catch loose leaves and snow which will add some insulation and protection from extreme cold. Purple coneflower is very hardy and should easily survive the winter cold.

   Comment by Sarah — 11/7/2007 @ 2:47 pm

4. I have Sweetwilliams from seeds there are 2 Years old and have nice leaves but no flowers and there are in a container, what can I do? Thanks very much……

   Sweet william are biennials that sometimes act like short-lived perennials. They come back for a year or so but do not perform well, either the plant gets sparse, untidy looking and has very little or no flowers. On the other hand, a biennial produces green growth the first year and then blooms the second year. If your original plant died after blooming but reseeded itself, then you have a 1st year plant again which should bloom next year. Another option is: that the plants may be vigorously growing leaves and producing no flowers due to too much nitrogen fertilizer.

   pic: Butterfly garden

   Comment by Bridgette Trent — 4/11/2008 @ 1:55 pm

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