Sisyrinchium: how to increase stock?

EpsomOldie

I planted a sisyrinchium striata last year, and it did well and looked lovely in front of the peonies. I let the flowers go to seed and hoped for seedlings (none appeared).

However the problem is that the plant looked so healthy and had clumped up so well, that I got greedy and divided the parent plant into smaller clumps last autumn, hoping to get more lovely plants this year.

Well, all but two of the clump-lets are clearly dead – the remaining two weeny clumps don’t look that clever either.

I tend to buy one or two plants of those I like, with a view to propagating them as I can’t afford to buy lots to achieve the drift effect I’m after.

Reading a decent book on propagating would be a good start (answering my own question here), but what should I have done to stand a chance of successfully increasing my sisyrinchium stock?

Thank you.

yoyoegg

divided the parent plant into smaller clumps last autumn

Division in the spring.

Cadgreen

Very easy to divide- I could post you seeds of striatum 'aunty may'.

EpsomOldie

Ah - thank you.

EpsomOldie

Cadgreen wrote: »

Very easy to divide- I could post you seeds of striatum 'aunty may'.

That's very kind of you. How did you get seeds?

Davesnave

Aunt May won't come variegated from seed; it will revert back to the species. It'll probably be tougher than Aunt May though!

Striatum seed is pretty easy to grow; doesn't need any fancy treatment so far as I remember.

grannyjo

the seeds come as little green round pods where the flowers were- - or at least mine did. Mine propogate- seeding themselves all the time- in well drained gravel type areas, between flagstones in poor earth, and dampish areas near the pond. So not sure what you did wrong. I'm always pulling them out. I often split them and replant like you did and usually get good results. To me they seem very hardy as I'm good at destroying plants. You were probably just unlucky- mine is a clayish soil. They haven't shown much interest in growing so far this year though- still too cold-My yellow ones seem most prolific but I also have white and blue which have grown in num ber over the years - good luck

Cadgreen

Aunty May is a real favourite of mine and up to now my plants from seeds from the orig. look the same as the orig in flower. Just collected the seed in usual way - shook stems out in a paper bag.

Davesnave

Cadgreen wrote: »

Aunty May is a real favourite of mine and up to now my plants from seeds from the orig. look the same as the orig in flower. Just collected the seed in usual way - shook stems out in a paper bag.

The RHS don't think it can be increased by seed. They recommend division.

Just for the record, so we know we're talking about the same thing, Sysyrinchium striatum Aunt May (not Aunty May) is a variegated cultivar, and like many other variegated plants, it is supposed to revert back to the species it sported from when its seed is sown.

The type species does indeed set seed prolifically, so the OP may yet find plants popping up this year. Personally, I never had much luck with fussy Aunt May on my old clay garden, though I could probably keep it here, about 20 miles from where it originated.

EpsomOldie

Thank you everyone. I bought another sisyrinchium striata (the ordinary one, not Aunt May) over the weekend and have resisted the temptation to divide it.

I'll collect the seed later in the year and sow in a tray in gravelly soil. Hopefully this will yield some seedlings. I'm on clay but it's very loose and well nourished with leaf mould, garden compost and manure. The self-sown seeds probably failed last year because they'd have fallen into the manure mulch around the peonies rather than the gravelly soil mentioned above.

I like the pale yellow flowers best. I'll look out for Aunt May - I googled the image and they look interesting.

Also planted up some pinks from here http://www.allwoods.net/ over the weekend into very gravelly soil in troughs. They're near where I live but they also do mail order. The people at Allwoods gave me a leaflet on how to propagate them so I'll let them get established and then hopefully will have loads. I like the clovey scent of pinks.

I love MSE. Thank you.