When is the best time to divide and repot deciduous agapanthus...and will they flower this year after division. Mine are just starting to appear above the surface. Many thanks.
April is a good time to divide them. They flower best when potbound, so you may lose flowers for a bit, and any newly potted sections will probably take a couple of years to get into their stride.
It is something of a popular fallacy that Agapanthus prefer to be pot
bound or under potted. When the bulbs start to rise up out of the pot
they, again, need splitting or potting on or both. Flowering will
otherwise be sparse.
They flower best of all when well fed and watered.
It can be quite a tough job, just getting them out of the containers and then cutting them into chunks. I find mine don't flower so well the first year but they soon get going and outgrow the containers again. They are absolute thugs.
I split a clump here into four big pieces when we moved here. They flowered that year and I expect they will flower this too. As I said, food and water.
I'm going to do mine in a week or so, the hardest part is going to be getting the clump out of the pot, which is very large and vertical sided... I wasn't going to bother but it would be an even harder job next year. I sometimes wonder if it's worth it for a mere 2 weeks of flower.
Mine flower for much longer than that, @Loxley. They are in part sun - shady mornings, sunny afternoons and the flowers open over 2 - 3 weeks and last ages. I water them very generously and feed about once a week.
IMHO, the main reason for non flowering is lack of watering / feeding of potted plant AFTER they flower. Like Daffs, they form their flowers underground and it's very easy to forget about them once they've finished flowering. I also think the whole " potbound " thing is a myth. They flower best when in the ground.
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Thanks for that Palustris...what an excellent nursery/website.
I also think the whole " potbound " thing is a myth. They flower best when in the ground.