Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

11.8 in

In-row spacing

11.8 in

Between rows

15 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Flower · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Partial shade, or sun that comes early in the day.

Watering

Water sparingly; sharp drainage matters more here than any watering can.

Feeding

It needs almost no feeding.

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

April

Pruning

Trim the spent flowers off once blooming is over.

Overwintering

Cold is not the problem — keep the winter wet off it.

Through the year

• Mar–Apr Spring Growth
• Apr–Jun Flowering
• Jun–Nov Growing
• Nov–Dec Dormancy
• Jan–Mar Dormancy

Pests & problems

• Vine weevil Vine weevil larvae at the roots — suspect them when a cushion browns overnight
• Root & crown rot Crown rot in waterlogged soil, so the drainage has to be sharp
• Sun scald Scorching in hot afternoon sun; give it dappled shade through summer

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Beneficial nematodes Steinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.
  Hunts Vine weevil

  Microscopic worms watered onto damp soil that hunt down soil-dwelling grubs and release a bacterium that kills them within days. Timing is the whole thing: warm, damp soil and a small target grub, which means late summer for most of what they are used against.

• Frogs & toads Anura
  Hunts Vine weevil

  A resident toad works the beds every night for slugs, cutworms, and weevils. Recruit them with water — even a sunken basin pond — plus damp shade and an upturned-pot toad house; skip the slug pellets that poison their prey.

• Ground beetle Carabidae
  Hunts Vine weevil

  Fast, glossy night hunters that patrol the soil surface for slugs, cutworms, and root-fly larvae. Give them daytime cover — thick perennial edges, stepping stones, a log — and skip the tillage that wrecks their burrows.

  Plant nearby LavenderMintThyme
• Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus
  Hunts Vine weevil

  A European animal, and worth saying so plainly: there are no hedgehogs in North America, and the ally that does the same night shift here is the toad, the opossum or the ground beetle. Where they do occur, cut a gap in the fence and skip the pellets.