I have a couple of new plants sprung up from my main Romneya plant , when can I dig them up and pot them ? Should I wait till spring , or can I do it now ? I'm on Vancouver Island.We will be moving and I want to be able to take a couple of Romneya plants with me. Also, when do I cut down the big plant ,does it have to be completely leafless ,we are heading south for the winter in a couple of weeks and I 'd like to get it covered in mulch before then? Thanks Tosh
These are notoriously difficult to transplant, so despite your best efforts you may or may not have success. That being said, dig with a generous root ball and pot it now, and hope for the best. One bit of advice: plant the division into a paper pot, and when it comes time to replant, cut slits in the pot sides and plant the entire pot in the new site, thus minimizing root disturbance. Might want to google "romneya division", you'll find a lot of discussion of the vagaries of the operation. I don't bother mulching mine, and it's well established...mulching in this climate might retain too much moisture around the base of this drought/well drained loving plant.
Thanks very much , we'll give it a try , just didn't want to loose the 'mother plant' by digging around it.Should I use potting soil in the new pot or dig some of our terrible soil for it?
For the last 2 years a friend and I have lifted and divided side-shoots with a good amount of root. We have potted them in a mix of coarse sand and a loose potting mix. They are left in a cool polyhouse over the winter and fed with 10-52-10 about once a month. They seem to need the liquid feed to develop roots. After the roots develop they need to be planted out in the late spring. The plants do not thrive in pots over the summer.
