If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have a major crush on Podophyllum, especially Podophyllum delavayi. Previous posts here.
Late last winter, I took a deep breath and sawed in half the roots of an especially crowded pot of P. delavayi. Here it was a couple of summers ago.
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Years ago, I had a large beautiful pot of P. 'Kaleidoscope' which I thought should be set free in the ground. After it was planted, it slowly died and never returned so I'm wary about planting these in the open garden.
This P. delavayi was planted in the ground at the same time as the previous ones in pots. It was lovely for a year but the next year was nowhere to be seen. The third year, it came back and here it is emerging from the ground again this year. How can a plant simply not grow for a whole year and then come back like this?
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For several years there was a large pot of P. 'Spotty Dotty' in my shade garden. Last year it decided not to grow but look what I discovered today. Is this a seedling from the original plant or was there a viable bit of root in there?
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This one soldiers on even though it's leaves have become a bit deformed. Thinking that it might be some sort of fungus, I treated the soil with a copper fungicide before the foliage emerged. We'll see how things unfurl.
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In the pot ghetto, there is another that grew beautifully for two years but there's no sign of it this spring. I've learned to simply wait and see what happens. Crazy plants these but I love them! Loree at Danger Garden hosts the favorite plant meme and rounds up all of the favorites at the end of the month.
Late last winter, I took a deep breath and sawed in half the roots of an especially crowded pot of P. delavayi. Here it was a couple of summers ago.
It could have been sawed in quarters and still been fine but I was being cautious. To my surprise, both halves fairly quickly filled out their pots, bloomed and set fruit as usual. I smeared the ripe fruit around on the soil in the fall and today there are seedlings in both pots. They'll be left to do what they will but this fall, the fruits will be spread on flats of soil and late next winter, I'll be dividing these pots again. Maybe I'll be brave and throw one in the ground.
Here's the other pot also with seedlings.
Years ago, I had a large beautiful pot of P. 'Kaleidoscope' which I thought should be set free in the ground. After it was planted, it slowly died and never returned so I'm wary about planting these in the open garden.
This P. delavayi was planted in the ground at the same time as the previous ones in pots. It was lovely for a year but the next year was nowhere to be seen. The third year, it came back and here it is emerging from the ground again this year. How can a plant simply not grow for a whole year and then come back like this?
For several years there was a large pot of P. 'Spotty Dotty' in my shade garden. Last year it decided not to grow but look what I discovered today. Is this a seedling from the original plant or was there a viable bit of root in there?
This one soldiers on even though it's leaves have become a bit deformed. Thinking that it might be some sort of fungus, I treated the soil with a copper fungicide before the foliage emerged. We'll see how things unfurl.
