I have 4 plumbagos. Two of them are in their second season and 2 are new. The new ones are blooming. The older ones are larger and have lots of foliage, but are not blooming like the younger ones. Any advice on feeding supplements or anything else?All 4 seem very healthy and are in the exact same location in very large pots. They get morning sun and afternoon shade.
Hi Rose Lady, There are different plumbagos, is yours the shrub Plumbago auriculata? http://www.floridata.com/ref/p/plumbago.cfm If so, I've found that pruning helps to stimulate blooms and a tablespoon of milk in a gallon watering can every two weeks also helps. That kept mine blooming indoors all winter long. Newt
Well, it's not the auriculata according to the tag on the plant, but it's identical to the plumbago on this web site. The two bigger ones are now starting to bloom, but they are lighter in color than the smaller ones. They are more of a pale blue where the small ones are vivid bluish lavendar. Sorry it took so long to respond....busy week! I will try the tablespoon of milk approach and see what happens. Perhaps thy are just late bloomers? They are all 4 blooming now, but the larger ones are not at the rate of the smaller ones. It's odd.
I still don't know which plumbago you have. Does your tag have a botanical name? I don't know where to look for the one on this site that you are talking about other then pics from other posts. Can you give me a link? I just answer questions on the fourm. These pics show different colors to the flowers. http://www.plantanswers.com/plumbago_best.htm Plumbago zeylanica - white leadwort. http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week187.shtml There is another plant called plumbago, but it blooms in late summer to early fall with a cobalt blueish flower. Ceratostigma plumbaginoides - leadwort, plumbago, dwarf plumbago http://www.gaygardener.com/gardenspot/peren024.phtml When you talk of "bigger ones" and "smaller ones", I'm not sure if you mean the size of the leaves or the size of the entire plant, meaning that one might be older and hence larger in size. Newt Newt
Hi Rose, Maybe you are fertilizing too often or with too strong a solution. Use half strength solution of any fertilizer. These shrubs come in white as well as blue. Sometimes the shades of blue can vary. This should be helpful. http://sd1new.net/GardenPages/cape_plumbago.htm Newt
Hi Newt! Thanks for the link! They have started to bloom! One is a lighter shade as you said in your reply, and the other is a nice dark blue. They are doing very well now. I guess they were just later bloomers. They require a lot of water. I water them every other day as right now they are in large 10 gallon pots until my space is ready for planting. It has already hit the 95% mark here in Tucson so watering them is going to be an ongoing job! I can't wait to just get them planted in the ground. I know they'll be happier. The pots are black and really stay hot. I may go buy some cheap large pots made of something else. But at least for now they are blooming and seem to be happy with their environment. I am waiting for my sons to build the ramada walls as the plumbagos will go up against the north wall of the ramada. I am building a Mexican "kitchen" with grill,fridge,bar, fireplace, and maybe a cook stove. Thanks for all your help!
Rose, I'm so glad for you. I have to grow mine in a pot, but I put it on my deck for the summer. Hope you like it. With all my posting, I've never posted a pic from my computer before so I hope this works. Newt
