From Sooner Plant Farm in spring 2018
In Spring 2019 this poor plant barely leafed out after being moved to the Potting Bench Curve garden last fall. It's alive but such a far cry from the full, leafy plant I got last year.
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| 4/21/19 - not looking good |
I cut back all the dead branches, leaving just the few that have leaves, dug it up and put it in a pot until mid June. It was misshapen and deformed, but in a pot in the shade what was left greened up nicely and started too bud.
How to torture a shrub: In mid June I took it out of its pot, sawed through the woody rootball where the remaining live branches were in two separate sections leaning away from each other, and planted it under the birch tree in the Potting Bench Curve garden.
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| June 14, 2019 - just planted in the back garden in shade after cutting it in two, then replanting the two parts close together. |
It will get a lot of shade there, but it seemed to do well in almost total shade when it was in the pot.
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| June 22, 2019 - blooming, looks okay |
🌿 🌱 🌿 🌱 🌿 🌱 🌿 🌱 🌿 🌱 🌿 🌱
Here's the first year history, and the struggle I had getting this plant to take.
It did not do well in any of the sites I tried it in, despite being a tough-as-nails plant that is supposed to be good in alkaline soil and good in shade.
End of 2018:
This finally wound up at the back of the potting bench curve garden, where it gets a few hours of direct sun and then shade, and where I can keep it well watered.
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| August 25, 2015, finally transplanted next to a small stand of Mexican Hat and an Iris pallida. There is a 'Shenandoah' switchgrass to its right that will add height along the wall. |
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| August 25, 2018 |
Originally I had put it under the dining room windows, but it declined all spring and summer. It was such a large, full, beautiful specimen from Sooner Plant Farm, and 'Blue Velvet' is tough as can be, can take shade, and will grow in alkaline soil and likes good drainage.
So . . . a great choice to anchor this garden. But it never looked good, stems defioliated, and it would droop badly after a windy night, even if I had watered (soaked) it the day before. It seemed to want constant soaking wet conditions all the time or it wilted. Too shady? Too dry? From transplant in May to mid August, it got smaller and sparser.
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| early July, 2018 -- shady dark all day. It wilted and seemed too dry all the time. |
The plant I received mail order was huge and full. 'Blue Velvet' was such a workhorse in my old garden, I thought it would be great here. A few pictures of it in my CT garden:
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| In my former CT garden - beautiful and easy to grow |
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| What 'Blue Velvet' St. Johnswort is supposed to look like. |
It struggled so, and looked so awful and I had to soak it every day, so it came out in mid August, got potted, then planted in the fall of 2018 in the Potting Bench curve garden, then taken out in spring 2019 and potted again, then re-planted under a birch tree in mid June 2019.
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| June 17, 2018 |