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Erigeron karvinskianus - "Grow in fertile, well-drained soil that does not dry out in summer"

FireFire Posts: 17,116
in Plants
I really don't understand instructions like this from the RHS and others.  Erigeron grow in the cracks in paths, in concrete  and in walls. Why would they not want to grow like full sun Mediterranean conditions like rosemary or lavender - very gritty, very well drained, soil with a base of builders' rubble?
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  • SuesynSuesyn Posts: 630
    Around here in grows semi wild in our heavy clay soil which dries out like concrete the moment the sun comes out. 
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 7,871
    Ignore the RHS...   mine grows in the type of conditions you have alluded to, .. builders' rubble, gritty, sharp drainage, and dry in summer, next to Lavenders.  
    East Anglia, England
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Mine bought last year, didn't come through the winter! Trying again!
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 9,367
    The RHS guides tend to be 'grows best in...' rather than 'will survive in...'.
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 21,712
    I grew the first one I had in a flower bed with good soil. It didn't grow well but the next year there were several seedlings in the cracks about 20 metres away. Now there are lots in the paving cracks. I like them there so they are staying.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    edited April 2018
    @wild edges, but that is my question, kind of. "The RHS guides tend to be 'grows best in...' rather than 'will survive in...'". Is the suggestion that a plant that seems to be all about walls, really be happier in damp, very fertile soil.

    I do know that my daisy plants, small above ground (currently in pots with very sandy, gritty soil) have an enormous root system, filling a medium sized pot in a season. Checking yesterday, the pot is all root and hardly any soil. Is it a really a bog plant that got lost? I know we have to learn as we go, and take instructions with a bag of salt, but I read a lot of sites that give polar opposite instructions.  #confused
  • LynLyn Posts: 21,910
    I don’t have much confidence in the RHS instructions, I’ve come across this several times.

    The plant grows everywhere in Cornwall, always out of cracks in walls, especially high up on castle walls. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 6,649
    edited April 2018
    IME you plant it in one place and it very quickly moves to where it wants to be. Actually here it is generally growing with its roots under or behind things - so like cracks in paving and under steps, where, probably, it is always a bit damper than in the open ground.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    Thanks for your thoughts.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 9,367
    Fire said:
    @wild edges, but that is my question, kind of. "The RHS guides tend to be 'grows best in...' rather than 'will survive in...'". Is the suggestion that a plant that seems to be all about walls, really be happier in damp, very fertile soil.

    You'd be amazed. When I first got into alpine plants I thought they all liked well-drained, gritty soil and would be best planted in between rocks in full sun. Sadly for a lot of my early planting efforts this wasn't the case and I've found that many thrive in moist soil in the shade. It's very garden specific though and my garden tends towards the extremes of every kind of weather.
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
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