Marshalm
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Agastache blue fortune taller than supposed to be... Why?

I bought 4 blue fortune last summer, the label and everything I have read said they grow to 24 to 36 inches. This year they all came up but they are 5 feet tall with much smaller flower spikes. Has anyone had this happen or know why . Thank you!

ButterflyLady29
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Did you fertilize them?

Marshalm
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No, I didn't do anything at all to them.

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applestar
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Do they look the same as last year except for the height and size of flowers? Could the agastache have died off and something else grew in their place? ...post a picture if you want us to take a look.

Marshalm
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They look the same and I also had them labeled so they are definitely them. I could see a few inches or even a foot off but 2 feet taller is a lot. I am 5 2 and they are as tall as me.

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rainbowgardener
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Really, post a couple pictures! I have grown agastache for years and never saw it do anything like that. Just because it is growing where your agastache was, doesn't mean some weed couldn't have replaced it. Soil is full of weed seeds, air is full of weed seeds, birds transport them, attached to their feet or in their poop....

Marshalm
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Definitely them, I bought 4 and 4 came back
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20170616_194504-1.jpg

Marshalm
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Closer picture
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Here is a closer pictur
Here is a closer pictur

Marshalm
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Another close up of flower
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20170617_083207-1.jpg

thanrose
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I want to move into your garden, right behind the overly large agastache and under the tree. You'll barely know I'm there.

This is odd, their leap in stature. I've no clue why that's happening.

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rainbowgardener
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OK you're right! Is it shady where they are? Sometimes plants that are not getting as much sun as they like stretch up tall to try to find it.
I have some exceptionally tall broccoli plants in my garden because of that

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webmaster
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I was thinking along the same path as Rainbowgardener. Some plants and trees will reach and stretch to obtain more sunlight.

This plant likes full sun so it's probably trying to obtain its fair share of sun.

Marshalm
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They are in sun all day until about 3:00. I don't understand why the flowers are so small compared to when I bought it also. I asked the peaple at garden center and all they could come up with is "well, they are living things and sometimes you can't always be sure on there growth and the labels are for the whole country"

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applestar
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OK Here are a couple of "out there" thoughts and ideas since folks with more experience with this plant have proposed and explored the reasonable ones:

1) maybe this is one of those plants that benefit from pruning early on -- like mums -- to keep them shorter and more compact
2) at the time you bought them, they had been grown in containers all their lives and were only a young specimen
3) or maybe different conditions like kept very dry or allowed to dry out and stressed
3) maybe they selectively thinned so that the flower spikes would be bigger
4) maybe they fed it blooming hormones and bloom boosters

...I also want to go back to ButterflyLady's question, because my first thought was too much nitrogen
-- considering how lush your flower bed is -- looks very very lovely BTW -- there's some kind of nutrient source in there. Manure? Bagged Garden Soil that already contains fertilizer though you didn't know it?

Marshalm
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Thanks for the ideas! I don't think there is anything in the soul, when we moved in it was just an empty grass lawn and I have never added anything to soil. Have you or anyone else had experience in moving blue fortune and swamp milkweed? I'd like to switch them since the Agastache is taller.



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