I know this stuff doesn't enjoy being moved because of it's roots...but what do you think? Just dig deep and wide? Check this one out. I really need to find a better spot for it - it's growing out of it's home now. It's a small yellow flowered variety. I'm thinking after it blooms this season, I'd like to move it to a bigger space with more sun.
I have a blue one that I moved - it got too much shade where I had put it. It was not quite as big as yours but I moved it to a full sun location and it is huge now. So I'd say move it. That one looks so unhappy what have you got to lose?
That is a really strange looking picture!! :o
I don't know anything about moving this...just want to let you know...that is one beautiful plant.
Deb
Thanks to both of you :)
This one is small and is supposed to be. It's a dwarf if you want to call it that. I mail-ordered it. It was supposedly found growing native in TX along roadsides...so it's short size is normal for this one.
I know what you mean about the large blue type...I have that too...
This message was edited Apr 11, 2006 8:45 AM
Whole plant
I'm going to be moving a dozen or so of them soon. They were seed grown last year, and are just starting to emerge. I don't think there will be any problem moving them, because they haven't been in the ground long enough to get too accustomed to it (planted out late last fall).
I can't tell the size of the plant's crown from your picture, but I've moved them with 2' diameter rootballs before, and apart from some sulking, they did just fine.
Get the new spot dug and amended first. Take as much rootball as you can handle, both deep and wide. Water it in well, and keep it watered through the spring. It should do fine.
I just remembered I have a few in pots. LOL I found this info. http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/Plants/Baptisia%20australis.htm
I might have to buy a replacement for the blue one. Doesn't seem to be coming back. Probably died from over-wet clay soil it was in. I'll check for babies though...there were a bunch in the past.
Baptisia is hard to move because it has a tap root, rather than fibrous roots all under the plant. As long as you dig really deep, and wide enough to get all the tap root, they should do fine.
I'm growing these from seed for the first time this year and I have high hopes. This thread had been a good lesson on making sure I site it in the right spot! I understand it takes them a couple of years to get established. Also, deer resistant, very important where I'm putting them.
Do they reseed themselves, or send up any offshoots? With a tap root, I imagine not.
Andy - as a member of the pea family deer don't care for it but as we all know, when deer are hungry they'll eat anything and everything.
We've never moved ours and it's huge and now in shade, though it was planted in full sun: the tree next to it is now 30' tall. It adapted very well. I guess it does grow from it's own seed because I've found quite a few babies around it.
A local nurseryman said it could be moved but now "I've grown accustomed to it's place".
Welcome donn! Finally Long Island has a few members!
It will self-seed like crazy if you let the pods go to seed. Here's a shot of the pods.
I love it when the pods go black: very interesting!
I moved a large clump a few years ago that had really put down massive roots. The plant could have cared less, and has thrived in its new spot, but the tussle was formidable and the plant almost won. I just planted a new variety for me of baptisia 'Twilite prairie blues' that is a bi-color (purple violet and yellow) and I thought long and hard about a permanent home for it. It was pricey, but I was lured in by the color.
I went ahead and moved it. The root goes really deep. I got a big ball of clay soil with it. So far so good. It was wilted down a little the day or two after, but now it's perked up again :)
I'm so glad you posted that comment. We've never moved ours and it must be 12 or 13 years old. Now I have the courage but no energy left today and don't even know where I'd move it but if I ever want to I can. Thanks.
hc, I'm glad it reseeds, because I'd like to have lots of these but they have been very hard to germinate. The seed coat is tough, so I've scarified, soaked for several days, finally got some germination... but a lot of work! I hope once I get a few established they will start making babies and I can relocate them. I'm growing the australis, wild indigo.
Wow....12 years old huh? That could be a monster. I imagine though with enough digging and being careful you can move it successfully.
For reseeding...yes, they tend to do well on their own. I'm pretty sure I see a lot of new babies under mine now. That's good because the main plant is in serious decline. It stays too wet where it is now (heavy clay) so I want to grab some of the babies in a month or so and relocate them to better conditions.
My brain cells must be on hold. The baptisia was planted the same time this little tiny tree started to grow. Well the tree is a swamp maple and 30' tall now with huge roots so the baptisia will stay put.
I started mine from seeds, and they are not good germinators. All I had survive out of a pack of seeds is one plant. It is very large now, and I always let it go to seed, but have never noticed any seedlings. Maybe z4 is too cold for them to self sow?
sharon
If one seed a year germinates, for us, it's a lot.
Wow...I've had close to a 100 or more in one season. Right now I've got 20 or more if they are what I think they are (just now sprouting). I'll see if I can find an old photo of the babies from a few years ago, under the main plant.
Ok...so maybe it's not 100, but it's a lot :) Here's an old picture with babies.
P.S. I never collect the seeds. I let them fall to the ground, where they sit all summer, fall, winter and then they sprout in spring. And I try to remove most of the old seed heads so I don't get flooded with new plants.
This message was edited Apr 21, 2006 8:08 AM
What beautiful babies!
And I love that daylily! Who might that be?
Thanks. I'm not sure which one it is. I bought a few from a guy down the road that sells plants he grows in his garden...it's either from him or from the garden store. If it's from the garden store, I may or may not have the tag...some of them were thrown away.
If it helps ID, I think this is the same one...
Seeing the babies is really encouraging, hc, thanks. I'm having such a trial getting my seed to germinate that it's giving me hope that the few I get going now will have offspring in the future so I can have more plants.
Lovely shade of yellow, that daylily. Does the baptisia bloom around the same time? It looks like a great combination.
Thanks. Yes, it's about the same time. Maybe the daylily will lag behind a little.
Try leaving some seeds on the ground in a spot you keep track of and see if they come up next spring from being in the weather all season
that is one pretty daylily! I'd love to know the name too. I moved my baptisia 2 years ago , it wasn't getting enough light so it was flopping ( I also think they flop if they get placed in really rich soil too) . last year it did ok it did not get to be as big as before but this year I can see the buds emerging from the ground and it looks like it will be just fine . They are a beautiful plant well worth having I just love the foliage , even after they bloom I use it in flower arangments
laura
hc: Thanks for the pic of the babies - they are in the foreground, right? I think there are some "weeds" growing now right near the baptisia that look like these! Hmmm....maybe the mystery is solved...Yes, this year I will mark off a special place to put the seeds so i know where they are. Thanks for the idea.
Sharon
Yes, that's them in the foreground
I sure wish someone could identify that daylily. I really want that one.
hczone6, could I ask pretty please, if you could put a pic on the daylily forum, and see if someone knows it. It almost looks like a species.
Or if anyone here knows it?
Thanks, Polly
I'll make a point to look for the tag. I might have it. Give me a day or two to look for it. If I don't find it, I'll take a current photo and post it for ID.
Just wanted to pop in and say that last winter, I winter-sowed baptisia and had great success with the germination rate. I had never tried growing this from seed before and didn't know it was considered difficult. It did very well for me by winter-sowing, and my only problem was what to do with so many plants!
:)
Dee
From what I'm gathering from these posts, especially babies popping up the following spring, it sounds like winter sowing is the answer. With a classic winter already past, I'll try to create the environment in my freezer and fridge with the seeds I have left to increase my stock.
I would avoid the freezer and settle for the refrigerator.
I can't ID the daylily. I opened a thread with new photos here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/595202/
Thank you so much! Polly
Wintersowing Baptisia worked really well for me, too, but because I garden in the South, I did presoak the seed. It has taken 3 years for flowering, though. I really like the foliage on my plants.
I'm so glad to have found this thread because I need to move my Baptisia to a sunnier spot that has more room, and ya'll have given me the courage to get out there and dig.
Thanks!
Does anyone grow the white Baptisia? I m not sure which one. My " prairie smoke" has been blooming for a week now and the australis is budded but not blooming yet. But the white is a whole other creature. It is just poking it's head out of the ground now. Only one stalk, as thick and similar in appearance to an asparagus.
Pixie
