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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] digging and potting up

At 06:29 PM 2/7/98 EST, you wrote:
>    I am looking for advice...I would like to dig up and pot up
>    a plantaginea 'Aphrodite' early in the season...even right
>    now if I could get away with it.

Hi, Peter.  I have used this method with other plants that need a longer
growing season than my area offers:

Don't dig it up - that will set it back.  Put a cloche or a couple of old
windows (hinged together so as to make a tent) over the spot in the ground
where your plant is buried.  If you have a bottomless cold frame, that is
perfect, since you can raise or lower the lid to control the temperature.
The cold frame is the best idea if you are going to have it in place for
more than a month.  A cloche can wilt your plants if left in place too long.

When the nighttime temperatures are high enough to keep the plant from
going dormant again, take off the cloche or whatever you used.  If your
plants still wait until the last minute to set flowers (is Aphrodite's
flowering cycle dependant on day-length or just number of days it has been
out of dormancy?), you can glass them over again in the fall to extend the
growing season.  Hope this helps.  Like I said, I have not used this on
hostas, but it works very well on fuschias.


Sheila Smith
mikecook@pipeline.com
Z 5/6
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