GardenGeisha
Deeply Rooted
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2012
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In May or June I bought a white butterfly weed and planted it in a large pot. I think it is Asclepias tuberosa. They told me it was white flowering but it didn't bloom all summer. Recently I got to thinking it should be moved to the ground in order to overwinter properly. I had noticed plants around it in the pot did not thrive like plants in other pots. For instance, my dusty miller plants around it were much smaller and appeared stunted compared to plants from the same flat that I had planted elsewhere. The latter are nearly 3 times larger... Also, a packet of zinnia seeds I planted in August sprouted but didn't grow in that pot this butterfly weed was in. I wondered whether butterfly weed has an allelopathic effect like black walnuts and sunflowers do on other plants, kind of poisoning them, preventing optimal growth? However, this butterfly weed itself never really grew in the pot, either. It just held its own. A more expensive orange butterfly weed I bought on Father's Day and planted directly in the ground never grew much this summer, either, (Asclepias tuberosa-- the type of asclepias with the long taproot) but at least it bloomed twice. When I transplanted the white butterfly weed the other day, it was 98 degrees the following day and in the high 90s the next few days, so I made sure it had plenty of water. I covered it with a plastic laundry basket (large holes on sides) and a lightweight sheet, to shield it from the hot daytime sun. Its lower leaves are very yellow, all of a sudden. A garden worker told me she thinks it needs fertilizer, that maybe all the nutrients leached out of the pot with watering, and now that it is transplanted it can't take up new nutrients from the ground? Do you think this could be the case, or do you think it is more likely that it turned yellow from the water. The new location is sandy, and it is somewhat near a black walnut tree. I have read that Native Plants can react poorly to fertilizer. And since it is already stressed, I'm a little nervous about fertilizing it? Do you think it will have time to put down new roots for the winter, being planted this late in the season?
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