PlantAdvice.co.uk

Greetings,

I have planted queen golden trollius (3) and toad lily (1) perhaps 4 weeks ago and nothing has been showing itself. Yes, I have been watering and weeding, given them compost, and even fertilizer, in other words, caring for them. The astrantia that I had planted at the same time, while stuggling have still shown themselves clearly.

I am a novice gardener and very concerned I wonder if I have planted them too deeply or even upside down. I also had two of my oriental poppies not bud this year. Very upsetting and strange. Do you think that they have died or will die, or simply show up next year?

Thank you very much for whatever info you can give me.

Hello Cain,

Thank you for your question to plantadvice.co.uk I have tried to look for clues as to why these plants might not have made an appearance yet after you planted them in your garden. The Trollius and the Toad Lily (Tricyrtis) are both herbaceous so they would die down to an overwintering rootstock, but I would expect them to sprout new shoots when the warmer spring weather arrives and develop fresh new leaves.

What do these plants have in common and is this a factor in why they might have failed? Well, I am beginning to wonder if the answer lies in the soil that they have been planted in. The Trollius, Tricyrtis and the Oriental Poppy will all thrive in rich, deep soil that has a high proportion of well rotted organic matter. Soil that you might expect to find in ancient woodland with hundreds of years of annual leaf fall for example.

If you could describe the soil in which the plants were located including the Oriental Poppy that is not blooming we might be able to start by eliminating ‘wrong soil type’ from the enquiry.

Look forward to you reply.