Unexpected growth

Discussion in 'Annuals, Biennials, Perennials, Ferns and Bulbs' started by soccerdad, Dec 25, 2008.

  1. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    Every year I plant several dozen columbine seeds. Many germinate and get to about 4" high by the time I transplant them outside. But after I transplant them, they do not thrive. At most one or two will live to the following spring.

    So this year I left them in their pots all summer, in the shade, thinking to plant them in the Fall. But they came down with mildew and couldn't decide what to do ... . So they stayed there all fall, while I dithered.

    I did the same with some lupins that I grew, because I couldn't make up my mind where I wanted to put them

    For every plant, the foliage died but I thought that the roots were probably alive.

    A week ago, after several days of below-freezing nights, I grew worried that the roots might die. My thought was that plants in pots would be much more vulnerable than plants in the ground. So I moved them into an unlit area in my basement (and cut the dead material off at the soil line).

    After two days I saw about 3" growth in a few pots. White growth.

    "Oh no", I thought, "the warmth is making them grow but the lack of light is making them grow badly. I must put them under lights." So I did. That was about 3 days ago.

    Now they are all about 4" tall and each plant has about 4 shoots (if that is the right word). I have about 15 Nora Barlow, 15 Black Barlow, 15 Yellow Star, and a dozen Aquilegia Canadensis, and 15 lupins (plus some coleus but they are not yet showing any signs of life at all).

    At this rate they will outgrow the space that I have available for them within a month (maybe within a week), But it will still be far too cold to put them outdoors.

    Any suggestions?
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2008
  2. lorax

    lorax Rising Contributor 10 Years

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    Bring them right into the house and make them at home near your windowledges.
    Turn your bathrooms into jungles.
    Gift them as houseplants for new years to your friends.
    Gift them to your friends on January 6 (Ukranian Christmas).
    Move somewhere warmer and plant them out.
     
  3. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    Alas neither the windowledges not the bathrooms work for me. The other occupants of my house think that we already have far too many plants near the few windows that we have, and my proposals over the years that every bathroom needs plants have met great resistance (yes I know this is insane but I married one of them and am confident that I participated in the creation of the rest so I can't really do much about it...)

    And if any of my friends are interested in plants, they hide it well.

    The final idea, of moving, is attractive ... but I would need to win the lotto first ... and since my mathematical background compels me to examine the odds of winning I have never been able to force myself to buy a ticket, so my chances of winning are not great ...

    Anyway, I moved them to my recently-created relatively-cool garage-cum-greenhouse, and they are happy there, about 1' tall and (I suspect) going to bloom within a few weeks.

    If they do bloom in Feb, I wonder what would happen if I waited to April and then planted them outside, about a month before normal planting-out time for columbines; when May rolls around might they think "Wow that was one short winter, but clearly it is time to grow again". Or will they be too pooped to pop?
     
  4. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Lupines and columbines are quite cold hardy and would not enjoy being in the house during the winter.
     
  5. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I am constantly amazed at the trials some of you have to go through to make some plants grow. Columbines (Granny bonnets)are almost weeds in my jungle. They seem to come up all over the place. Some one was totaly amazed recently at my geraniums growing all over the place. I very rarely do anything to them except may be trim. I have the normal climber but what fascinated them was normal ones clambering up into the tapestry hedge and pocking out the top. These visitors were from Europe where geraniums are a usually restarted every year in the cold areas.

    Liz
     
  6. K Baron

    K Baron Well-Known Member

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    Aquilegia (Columbine) need to be planted out of doors, do not try to create a false environment for them, as a general rule, they do not like to be transplanted....
     
  7. Newt

    Newt Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Aquilegia are short lived perennials. I sprinkle the seeds in the garden where I'd like to see them grow and am grateful for the ones that sprout and bloom.

    Newt
     
  8. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    "short lived perennials"

    In this climate they are not short lived. The same plant keeps coming back year after year.

    liz
     
  9. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    I can't tell if the same plant keeps coming up each year or if it self-seeds and its children, looking exactly like it, grow each year in the space that it previously occupied, but my columbines have lived for at least several years. Of course that is short lived by some standards: I know that the fuchsia by my gas meter is over 50 years old ...
     
  10. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    No it is definatly the same plant. This particular one is in a pot with something else and has been there for at leat 10 years that I am aware of. It has a large root ball as I had it out a couple of years ago to put new soil in

    Liz
     
  11. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    But don't plants grow upside down in Australia? I know that the water swirls the wrong way ... although I never understood why toilets don't overflow as a result ... and so presumably the flowers rest on the ground while the roots reach for the sky ...
     
  12. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Now now :)) Yup the water really does go the other way out of the plug hole. No it's the fact that we are mild here usually. (not today. 43.5 C today and 3 more days of it). I have only seen a frost in a couple of times in 26 years. Rain or lack of it is currently a problem (last 12 yrs or so) Plants just don't have a severe time usually. A lot of delicate house plants happily grow out doors. Perrenials are there year after year.

    The real world as seen from up here
    http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/

    Liz
     
  13. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    Excellent maps. Started me thinking: I think I have a possible answer to the old question - one of the last remaining unsolved questions of science now that the four-color theorem and Fermat's little theorem have both been proved - "Why don't Australians all fall off the earth inasmuch as they live on the bottom?"
     
  14. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Enlighten me. I alwys thought it was gravity :) mind you todays weather might just melt us off the map. Crikey it's hot 40+C something

    Liz
     
  15. soccerdad

    soccerdad Active Member 10 Years

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    Sorry, I did not realize that they had gravity in Australia. I am amazed to learn how much our two countries have in common. Perhaps because we were both British colonies once.

    I took three of my daughters camping in Idaho when they ranged in age from about 8 to 16, and the temp was 90 F - about 32 C. They had never been anywhere that hot and found it unendurable; that was 8 years ago and I do not think that they have ever again been that hot (except for when daughter #1 spent a few months in SE Asia recently). I knew that many parts of Australia were hot, but I did not realize how hot they were. I have not heard of the drought for a year or more, so I had sort of thought that it had eased up ...
     

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