I am an agapanthus ‘nut’ growing these drought-tolerant, summer-flowering plants that remind me of my South African childhood gardens. My garden is too small for the numbers I grow, so most of them are in large containers. In winter they need protection, so I have copied one of my agapanthus-loving friends and provided a winter house for them. The evergreen agapanthus spend the winter in this custom-built ‘agapanthus house’, while the deciduous ones in containers go into one of my sheds, where there is some light. Before they check in for their winter holidays, they are all watered well, seedheads and stems cut down and any yellowing foliage removed.
Evergreen agapanthus still need light, so the roof of the winter palace is made from sheets of clear corrugated plastic. Inside, the plants are crowded in place on wooden pallets, with horticultural fleece and newspaper filling the gaps between them and adding extra blanketing protection. The walls of the agapanthus house are made from insulating panels, with the roofing plastic added last. The ‘roof’ sits on a couple of pieces of trellis and is weighted down with wood or bricks. I can remove it easily, so that on sunny days in early spring there is a circulation of air around the plants. The cover can be dropped back swiftly at the end of the day when temperatures drop.
The deciduous plants will survive in the darker shed, but they are still wrapped in a blanket of fleece and newspaper. I do have some agapanthus growing in the ground in the borders and these are deciduous, so once the foliage has died back I mulch the crowns.
In March, when the over-wintered plants come out into the light they need water and checking over to remove any unhealthy foliage. As soon as they start growing well again I start to feed them with a high potash feed. I usually buy this from agapanthus specialist grower: Steve Hickman of Hoyland Plant Centre, South Yorkshire. Visit www.somethingforthegarden.co.uk.
And then, when the plants are growing well during the summer, the fun starts – as my ‘aggie’ friends and I are nerdy bud-counters, vying with each other for the highest number of flowering stems of the summer…
Yes, I too have fallen in love with agapanthus and cant’ see my garden without them. So I hope you can advise me on a couple of points.
1. This year one of my plants gave me nine flower stems (at last), but they all curled and bent over the side of the large pot they are in. I managed to lift them up with the help of a half moon metal support and eventually they have straightened up.
But what happened and do I need to worry for next year? Never seen that before.
2. Erratic flowering… Sometimes I get one stem, sometimes I get up to nine – usually none at all!
And then I had to repot a large plant in 2015 so now I may not get anything at all for a couple of years!
Very frustrating and disappointing.
How can I get them to flower every year and abundantly? You mention a particular flower food.
Do you only use a high potash feed (say tomato food) or do you start the year out with a general fertiliser to wake them up, then on to high potash?
Do I stand a chance of the split/repotted plants flowering in 2017? They didn’t flower this year..2016
What do I feed then with when they have not flowered?
What do you mulch them with?
It’s a shame I can’t enjoy these beauties every year.
Please reply and thanks for any help you can give me.
Patt.
Thanks for your notes and queries… I have had a similar year with many non-flowering pots of agapanthus. I have just repositioned them all in a raised bed in a sunny site and plan to fleece them over winter and relocate parts of the agapanthus house of previous years to protect them. I will see how they perform next year.
I haven’t experienced the stem curling that you mention so cannot think what has caused this. I do feed the agapanthus from April through to September with a special agapanthus food which I have in the past purchased at UK flower shows from specialist award-winning agapanthus grower Steve Hickman of Hoyland Plant Centre. It is a soluble, high potash feed with trace elements. It costs £6 for a tub and just 1 teaspoon with 10L of water is the dose every three weeks.
Steve Hickman, via his website, would be my first port of call with your queries about the curly stems and flowering annually.
Good luck with the blooms next year. I hope that mine will be more prolific as well in their new site in full sun, with a little shade a few hours during the day.