In early spring I dumped a (large) load of very rich compost (sterilized compost from our local sewer treatment plant) on my perennial flower/plant garden. Even though I tried not to cover the plants that were starting to come up, many of them did get covered. I expected them to just keep growing anyways from underneath the compost... Now many of my perennials are 'missing'. My Astilbe, Hellebores, Bleeding Hearts, some Hostas and Lilies never came up... I'm SO SO disappointed. My one question to the pros is... will they re-appear next year?? (crossing my fingers)
I feel for you, I never make it a point to just dump compost on plants, most only need a small handfull around each plant. You might want to dig down a bit and check for bulbs and roots, sometimes they return.
Thanks for your response... I was raising my entire garden by adding a huge layer of compost (it was free). My garden sunk a bit over the past couple years... the plants that came through are MASSIVE! So, it's definitely done them well, but I miss the ones that didn't come up... darn it... will have to be patient and see if they come back next year...
A little extra to think about. we here in N.S have areas where they give away compost every year and I usually take advantage of this since I contribute to the pile, most of it is fresh so what I do is get a load and store it in a rear corner of my own compost pile area and let it sit for a year, I use some of it to make a tea, about 1/2 tshovel to 8 gallons of water ( I use large white buckets) let it steep over night then use the water to water the plants and veggies. Happy gardening.
