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Old 03-04-2003, 03:44 AM
DGiunti
 
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Default Question about bloom Longevity

In article , Darby Wiggins writes:

I was considering planing snapdragons, gerber daisies and pansies in my
small garden this year however, the nursery hand told me that these
plants bloom early in the spring and do not remain in bloom for the
entire summer. Is this correct?


I am not sure about those daisies, and think they may be right about the
pansies but have 'the knack' for stapdragons. Here is a recent post regarding
keeping them in bloom:

Snapdragons are one of the flowers that you can keep in bloom by removing
the spent blooms. Once the petals fall, snip off the flower at the stem. I
usually just use my thumb and first finger as the shears. You want to remove
the flower's ovary as well. Usually by the time the flower falls some bee has
pushed it's way into the dragon and fertilized it, and that causes a round
swelling (the ovary) at the base of the flower. You want to be sure to remove
this too! Once a few of these appear, the plant thinks that it's work is done
and happily goes to seed, and dies.

If you are good at keeping after the old flowers, you can keep them blooming
partially till the next freeze, though the flower stalks can get to look a
little leggy after a while, but you can snip them off and others will appear
too.



David Giunti email: unity
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