Polemonium for IDing

[mark smyth]

Does anyone know the name of this Polemonium

[Maggi Young]

Polemonium caeruleum - no idea what the cultivar might be - there are quite a few.....

[mark smyth]

Thanks Maggi but this plant has two different coloured flowers. Does P. caeruleum change colour?

[Maggi Young]

Does it not just open one shade  and then fade? Most of them seem to - even here!

[arisaema]

Looks like a hybrid, caeruleum x carneum maybe, like the cultivar 'Apricot Delight'?

[David Nicholson]

Apologies for hitching on to Mark's thread but I have six nice seedlings of Polemonium pauciflorum (sown January this year) which I have potted on individually and are around 12-15cm high now. I've no previous experience with Polemonium and am wondering whether to plant them out and if so what kind of site would be best, or should I keep them in pots under glass please?

[Maggi Young]

Plant them out David - and watch them seed themselves gently around the place. 
Don't fret, they are easily pulled out and only make delicate plants which are usually welcome where they place themselves.....

A few years ago I got over enthusiastic and pulled out too many - none left now 

[David Nicholson]

Many thanks Maggi, if it ever stops raining again I'll plant 'em out.

[Margaret]

Lovely plant, Mark. Better save some seed as they tend to be short lived perennials.

[David Nicholson]

Plant them out David - and watch them seed themselves gently around the place. 
Don't fret, they are easily pulled out and only make delicate plants which are usually welcome where they place themselves.....

ex Polemonium pauciflorum 'Sulphur Trumpets' sown January 2013

Well I did plant them out, five out of the six plants I had, kept one in the greenhouse that turned up it's toes on me and here they are today. On reflection five plants in the group is perhaps too many as they take up around 2 square yards in a not very big bed. As a group the flowers lack a bit of impact and it's only when you get up close that you can see the real beauty of them.

[Hoy]

David, you have fed your plants too good! If you grow them a little drier and/or in a little leaner soil then you get more flowers and less leaves.

I did grow it once and now seedlings pop up now and then on the stangest places. Here it behaves as an annual or a shortlived perennial.

[David Nicholson]

Many thanks for that Trond. I have to admit that my garden soil is pretty rich naturally and if I want to create an area where it is leaner I have to dig out the natural soil and replace it with a mix of sand and old bulb potting compost. I think I shall split my clump into, say, a three and a two and see if they come back next year.