mrfreeman
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Posts: 1
Joined: Tue May 30, 2017 12:32 pm
Location: London, UK

Bowles Mauve stems not flowering

Hi, sorry I'm not very good with gardening but just wanted to ask about Bowles Mauve. I planted 2 of them in a stony overcrowded small flower bed back in March (bought from a garden centre in small pots), and they seemed to be ok with regular watering and fish/bone meal. I didn't add any compost or soil at first but think maybe I should have. However a few weeks ago I did add some topsoil around the base of them and worked it in.

Anyway they are now growing quite tall, but the stems haven't flowered at all (apart from the very tips which had a few purple flowers showing when I bought them), and some stems have tiny shrivelled purple bits like the flowers tried to come out but died. I think we had a very cold spell in April and they seemed to go downhill after that. There are other flowers in the flowerbed which are doing quite well and I suspect they are stealing all the water and nutrients from the bowles mauve lol!

Does anyone know what they need (eg more/less water, fresh topsoil, more fish meal etc.) or have they passed a point of no return? It's weird because they are still growing, but the stems just won't flower and the tips' purple flowers are fading in colour. Not sure what to do next (phosphorus maybe)? Thx for any ideas.

stems
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Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:12 pm
Location: Victoria BC

I had this plant and found it is a bit tricky and also I think you should know that it does get very Woody and it is a very short lived plant. How ever after saying all this it is very pretty and I also think you have done every thing possible so maybe just wait 1 more year and see what happens



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