Verbascum x Letitia

[David Nicholson]

I must be doing something wrong?

Below is a picture of my Verbascum x Letitia taken in early June last year. The clump was around three/four years old and had reached nearly 90 cm. across. After flowering, perhaps in early Autumn, I sheared the plant over (not particularly heavily, or at least I didn't feel it was heavily) to tidy it up. Now it is no more!

Some years ago the same thing happened on another clump. This time Maureen pruned it, and I blamed her for it's loss.

Are they prone to flowering themselves to death? Should they not be pruned at all? I'd love to know please?

[Carolyn]

Your verbascum looked stunning, David. I especially liked the blue and yellow colour combination. I have never grown this verbascum but the ones I grow all like good drainage. Has it been wetter than usual in rainy Devon? Perhaps this is just one of those short-lived perennials. Time to start again, if you can find it - most of the online listings seem to be in the US.

[brianw]

You have more courage than me. I never trim until the early spring when I see how much damage the winter has done; and then some bits are rooted for the eventual replacement I will always eventually need, or give to friends.

[shelagh]

We have grown this plant a couple of times for the show bench but have found it rather short lived.

[Maggi Young]

David, Aberconwy stock this plant - no mail order of course, but  if you are attending any shows etc where they are expected, you could get  and order delivered to that .... see here:
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=16242.msg400491#msg400491

[David Nicholson]

Many thanks for that Maggi, I'll be in touch with Aberconwy.

Thanks too to Carolyn, Brian and Shelagh. I'm pretty sure the loss of my plant wasn't weather orientated (we had a wonderful Summer and it survived the Beast from the East OK). I did a bit of searching last night and re-found an Article from IRG (Issue No. 8 April 2010) written by ZZ and his late-partner Joyce Curruthers in which they say>>>>>

""In the middle of January Joyce pruned a polster-forming [[I have no idea what a polster-forming is?]] shrub Verbascum x Letitia strongly and it responded with even more dense growth covered with golden icing in June.....""

Joyce Carruthers' garden was on the south eastern tip of Vancouver Island.

So maybe I should have left my plant until around this time of the year, or even a bit later, before giving it a haircut? And that would fit in with Brian's regime.

[Maggi Young]

 
 a "polster" is a cushion, or pillow ( in English there is the word   "bolster" for a big pillow )