Chris Hogg wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 16:00:17 -0000, "Spider"
wrote:


Chris Hogg wrote in message
.. .
In the early spring this year I tidied up my RHP's and stripped off
all the dead and half-dead foliage from around the outsides of the
clumps, leaving a sheaf of new young growth in the centre. They're
mostly species types, planted last year so not yet too large. But I
was disappointed with their subsequent performance it terms of size
and number of flowers, especially those flowering in late summer. The
autumn flowering types were better. Whether this was due to my tidying
or to the weather, I don't know, but what do other urglers do with
their RHP's and when?


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Hi Chris,

I do just as you do, tidying partly in autumn and again in spring. I
didn't
have many flowers, but my plants are still very young. I used to believe
they preferred poorish soil, but have since read that they are quite
hungry.
Could faulty feeding be the problem with yours? I shall certainly feed
mine
up in spring.

By-the-way, could you recommend a good, stout reddish-orange poker for
autumn?

Spider

Thanks Spider. I'll try feeding them next year. I grow mostly species
RHP's, raised from seed from Chiltern, and they tend to be a bit
variable. But K. Rooperi is one of my favourites, with heads a bit
more rounded than most types, up to 6 feet when established. Similar
sized but later flowering and just going over in my garden is K.
Linearifolia, although not consistently reddish orange. Some are like
that, but others are a greenish yellow-orange (a sort of old-gold and
rather nice). A tall hybrid that I like is Prince Igor, large heads up
to 8 feet tall. K. Uvaria Nobilis is also very tall (the label says 10
ft!), but I've not had it long enough to confirm it.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Thanks very much for those recommendations, Chris. I shall do some shopping
next spring/summer and add some fiery pokers to my 'hot' border. Good luck
with yours.

Regards,
Spider