Hello to all on the board - I wondered maybe you could help us revitalise a
rather ill osteospermum in our garden... A couple of years ago, the bush
used to be full of green leaves and lovely flowers, but it has gradually
thinned (perharps due to the invasion of tall grass, which has now been
removed). We are left with a rather ill-looking bunch of woody stems and
about half the amount of leaves we used to have.
Is there a way to rescue the plant, or should we not bother ?

'Olivier',

Make sure that the soil is not compacted by spearing it with a fork and
prising it a little. Also prune it hard and give it a feed. That will
encourage new shoots from its base.

Long term it would be best to take cuttings with some roots attached and
when they are ready to plant out dig up the bed and start again making
sure that the drainage is very good. By the end of the season the bed
will be thriving again.

I presume that you have Osteospurmum jucundum
http://www.ingwersen.co.uk/Osteospermum%20jucundum.htm because I believe
that that is the only variety that is likely to survive our winters.

Good luck,
Emrys Davies.




"Olivier.Lepetit" wrote in message
...
Hello to all on the board - I wondered maybe you could help us
revitalise a
rather ill osteospermum in our garden... A couple of years ago, the
bush
used to be full of green leaves and lovely flowers, but it has
gradually
thinned (perharps due to the invasion of tall grass, which has now
been
removed). We are left with a rather ill-looking bunch of woody stems
and
about half the amount of leaves we used to have.
Is there a way to rescue the plant, or should we not bother ?

Emrys,

Thanks for the help, I shall try to do just that ! You are correct about the
species, it is exactly that one. Spot on !

"Olivier.Lepetit" wrote in
:

Emrys,

Thanks for the help, I shall try to do just that ! You are correct
about the species, it is exactly that one. Spot on !


I have lots of this too: it grows like a weed for me! If you only removed
the grass late last year it may be that the plant hasn't had a proper
chance to recover yet.

I second Emry's suggestion that you take some rooted cuttings: it grows
with amazing ease from these, and seems to appreciate being moved.

I had to hack a lot of mine back that had grown out onto the drive: I
think it must have been about this time last year. Noticing there were
some roots on the traily bits I'd removed, I shoved them into a spare patch
of 'layered' bed. They were in full bloom by the end of the summer and
very healthy plants too.


(Layered bed - I piled weeds on a bit of lawn. Then I covered in
newspaper, then another layer of hedge cuttings, I think, then newspaper
again and a little bit of compost on the top to hold the paper down and
make it look like soil. The osteospermums with their shallow roots love
it!)

Victoria