Texas Gardening: Getting Azalea, clematis and beebalm to bloom, 2 by Gypsi

Gypsi wrote:
My north facing flower bed is loaded with perennial goodies. My John Fanick Phlox and Flame Acanthus, Asclepias Curassavica and Smooth Blue Aster are all blooming.

Now, the azaleas are up closer to the house and as the days shorten that zone doesn\'t get as much light, but in summer the afternoon sun hit them. I had azalea blooms in April or May but none since.

My beebalm in my north east bed bloomed beautifully, (that is a dryer bed if that helps). Northeast is somewhat shaded by a Texas Sage that has gotten large, didn\'t matter. North bed, shaded by Phlox, didn\'t bloom, not one flower all summer, all thru the bloom time of the other.

My clematis is shaded on the east by phlox, catches some sun in the afternoon, it hasn\'t bloomed since spring.

It\'s late in the year to use a miracle grow super bloom type fertilizer, besides which that might not be the problem, so I\'m asking. There is skullcap mixed in there, I have removed a lot of baby smooth blue asters, there are still baby flame acanthus, possibly the bed is just too crowded.

Crinum lilies (milk and wine) and amaryllis in the center also haven\'t bloomed this summer, but when I dug and potted some amaryllis, they bloomed.

I keep bees and they need food, so I plant rather heavily.


these are this morning\'s pics. The newer 2 in front are Russian Sage.
Thumb of 2019-10-19/Prepper/0de96a