Avatar for Karaleepatel
Oct 28, 2023 12:40 PM CST
Thread OP
Oakville, Ontario (60 k west o
I winter sowed seeds of the above. Most of them germinated & I transferred the bigger ones to a clay pot & coddled them for almost 6 months & they hardly grew at all. Now 2 are about 2 inches wide & tall, with winter coming I don't know what to do with them! Bring them inside, plant them in the garden, put them in the shed or forget about them & try again this winter. As you know, they are not true native species to Southern Ontario but my hummingbirds love them & very few nurseries have plants in the Spring. I would appreciate your advice.
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Oct 29, 2023 3:06 PM CST
Name: Pat
Columbus, Ohio (Zone 6a)
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Hi @Karaleepatel

I think your Silene regia plants are growing in rosettes which is a normal growth pattern for some kinds of plants at first. They overwinter as rosettes before they grow flower stalks. They may overwinter as rosettes in subsequent years too.

I don't remember the exact habit of the Royal catchflys I grew. They disappeared after several years. I should have collected seeds. I miss them; your post is reminding me to grow some again!

It's a little iffy to say what to do at this point so late in the year. Here, I would probably have planted them in the garden by early September where they would have a couple months to root in and continue growing before hard freezes. I'd also mulch them.

Where you are that might be riskier. But I would try doing that with perhaps one each of the larger and smaller ones. I'd mulch well over the soil surrounding them (fine pine bark is a good choice we can get here) right up to the rosettes but not covering them. Deep mulch, say 10 cm, would slow the soil freezing and reduce freezing and thawing.

If you leave the clay pot outside will it crack? I always have to take mine inside (garage usually) for the winter where it's dry to prevent that.

If you leave the plants in the pot in your shed will they receive any light? I think they might need at least low levels. And they would need to stay moist.

I would probably put the pot and remaining plants in my garage near the window. The temperatures there seldom drop below freezing in our USDA zone 6. It's unheated but attached to the house on one wall. I don't know what the conditions would be like in your shed but it would probably help protect the plants from the most extreme temperatures.

Please post your results next spring and 🤞🏻summer!

Pat
Knowledge isn’t free. You have to pay attention.
- Richard P. Feynman
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