What to do with red hot poker
Stephanie newish gardener
Posts: 516
in Plants
Hello
I asked this as part of a question in the garden design forum but it was probably the wrong place. A couple of years ago I rescued two red hot pokers and then promptly neglected them again, so they've been in a veg growing bag ever since
I'm thinking of putting them in a border I've cleared. When I dug them out from under a treehouse they were not growing upright but had very bent stems. I put them in the growing bag at the same depth, with the stems lying partly across the compost with just the green bit standing upright. They now have what look like roots coming out of the side of the stems. Also one of them has sprouted a new shoot so I'm not sure if that's how it's meant to be or whether I can somehow remove the shoot to make another plant. I always thought they were single stem plants.
Here are some pics, initially taken a couple of weeks ago, but now including one taken yesterday showing a flower spike. Does the presence of the flower impact on when/whether to plant them out at last, and should I plant them so most of the bent stem is buried and only the upright top of the stem is above ground?
Thanks
I asked this as part of a question in the garden design forum but it was probably the wrong place. A couple of years ago I rescued two red hot pokers and then promptly neglected them again, so they've been in a veg growing bag ever since
I'm thinking of putting them in a border I've cleared. When I dug them out from under a treehouse they were not growing upright but had very bent stems. I put them in the growing bag at the same depth, with the stems lying partly across the compost with just the green bit standing upright. They now have what look like roots coming out of the side of the stems. Also one of them has sprouted a new shoot so I'm not sure if that's how it's meant to be or whether I can somehow remove the shoot to make another plant. I always thought they were single stem plants.
Here are some pics, initially taken a couple of weeks ago, but now including one taken yesterday showing a flower spike. Does the presence of the flower impact on when/whether to plant them out at last, and should I plant them so most of the bent stem is buried and only the upright top of the stem is above ground?
Thanks
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish. 
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Sorry to be dim but I'm not sure how I could get root along with the new shoot.
In the pic second from the top you can see another smaller shoot on the underside of the stem. I accidentally knocked that off and I just pushed it into the soil in the bag for now to see if it might grow. It has unsurprisingly gone brown but not fallen over yet!
I think it happens to be flowering now because we brought it out of the shade and into the sun a few weeks ago - amazing what happens when you put a plant where it actually prefers to be!