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Why are my plants separating in the middle?

gtcstvrgtcstvr Posts: 16
in Problem solving
Some of my plants in the garden (Heucheras and Campanulas) seem to be separating in the middle - does anyone know why? They are both really healthy (well till now!) so I don't want to lose them if I can help it. I've attached a couple of pics - any advice would be appreciated - thanks in advance.

Posts

  • gondorgondor Posts: 135
    Maybe a cat jumped or LAY down in them. :D
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 11,676
    Could be due to a lack of water. I've got a big clump of Oriental poppies that did just that, gave it 10 litres of water and now thankfully, it's perked back up.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    gondor said:
    Maybe a cat jumped or LAY down in them. :D
    I planted a nice osteospermom, that split. Next day I saw a pigeon sat in it!
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,405
    Your Heuchera will benefit from dividing in late Autumn or Spring  :)
  • ERICS MUMERICS MUM Posts: 625
    heucheras don’t look nice for long in my garden.  They tend to “climb” out of the soil and then get floppy and separate as yours are.  I’m going to follow the advice above and split them up in Nov, hopefully to get twice as many compact plants next year.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,405
    @ERICS MUM - yes, makes you wonder how long it would take them to reach the top of Everest ;)
  • delskidelski Posts: 274
    @gtcstvr I second the cat squashing idea. I have a bunch of achillea that hedgehogs have trodden a path through (seen them do it).
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391
    edited June 2021
    Some of mine have done it due to lack of water.  I know for sure as I had to move a particularly tall flowered one which had flopped over a path and the root-ball was very dry indeed.  I grew most of my heucheras from seed so know they are only 2 years old and were planted out in the first lockdown, so haven't had time to need splitting or burying deeper yet.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 54,023
    You can just dig up the heucheras and bury them deeper. They often spread or push themselves out of the ground, especially if they're in drier soil. It isn't down to any animal or bird intervention  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • delskidelski Posts: 274
    The campanula doesn't often spread or push themselves out of the ground. The squashing of that could of course be unrelated to the heuchera issue. I have heuchera and whilst my palace purple "pushes itself out of the ground" the others are fine, but then again none of my heuchera are as big as the OPs. I'm envious of such a large and floriferous specimen!
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