3/5/2023 0 Comments Auricula flowersA high phosphate feed a month after potting should encourage stronger roots. The thing auriculas most hate is hot wet compost and watering in summer is vital, so I will water mine in the evening. I think the problem with repotting in May could be, that if it’s very hot in summer, rooting may be harder to establish. The plants lose their strength after about three years, but if you take offsets – the baby plants – annually, your stock should renew itself. The Woottens mix is 50 per cent peat substitute, with 25 per cent grit and 25 per cent sieved loam, with 15g of Osmocote slow release to 10 litres of compost.Īs you can no longer use an insecticide for vine weevil, you need to search the roots for grubs as you repot. In the last few years I have used a slightly different formula from Woottens nursery. Mr Hook’s compost recipe was 1/3 John Innes no 2, 1/3 general purpose, 1/3 fine grit, a handful of farmyard manure and a teaspoon of mixed fertiliser in 6 litres of compost. May is too busy in an average year, so I usually wait until September. In the past, I have never bothered with the recommendations of all the pros, which is to repot plants at the end of May, when they finish flowering. With time on my hands, this ought to be the year when I can follow his advice and do my collection proud. When I started growing auriculas 20 years ago, a kind grower and shower, Mr Hook from Stroud, who used to visit our old garden, sent me three pages of handwritten notes of advice. They are martyrs to vine weevil, hate overwatering and are picky about compost. These alpines like to be dry in winter and shaded in summer, their flowers need propping with tiny twigs and plants need yearly repotting. Grown in 10cm terracotta pots, auriculas need plenty of attention. Their petals might be outlined in green or grey, surrounding a ring of red and an inner circle of white, with myriad variations. The ones I like best are the fancies, because they come in weird colour schemes. Christopher Lloyd used to say his were happy in flower beds, which they can be, provided you don’t want to grow the ones with mealy grey leaves (referred to by the experts as farina). They live in pots all year, under a north-facing former wood store with slatted sides, a glass roof and an open front. The ones I grow are not for outdoor planting. But auriculas are the lockdown flowers.Ĭenturies ago they were cultivated by weavers who worked from home, breeding rare colour breaks and meeting at dinners to compare and judge their plants. I was really looking forward to some plant envy and to picking up a few tips from the experts.Īlthough I have grown tidy, bright-faced auriculas for years, I’ve never done as well with them as I might. The West of England Auricula and Primula Show was due to have taken place a fortnight ago today, only seven miles from my home.
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