Your experience with Jacob's Ladder bloom time

11 years ago

I received a piece of the lavender blue blooming Jacob's Ladder this spring in a trade. It is planted were it gets some sun and some shade every day of the year. I have little experience with it and after reading about the expected bloom time, I'm curious as to why mine has never stopped blooming. Right now, in spite of numerous hard freezes and frosts I still have a couple of flowers open at the very top of the plant.

Is this unusual for this plant? Maybe it has been very active this year because it was newly planted and may just bloom in the spring once established???? It does not seem to be oen of the new varieties I've seen in my travels, just the regular old Jacob's Ladder that everyone grows.

What has your experience been with this plant and can you share it? Thanks,
Linda

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Comments (5)

aachenelf z5 Mpls
11 years ago
Mine pretty much bloom all summer if I deadhead them, although they don't seem to like the really, really hot weather (and drought) of midsummer which can slow down the flower production.

Kevin
gardenweed_z6a
11 years ago
Love Jacob's Ladder and have them planted in several beds where they get both sun & shade. My notes show they start blooming fairly early in spring but this year I noticed they continued to bloom randomly over the course of the growing season. They're easy to grow from seed via winter sowing--I set several new seed-grown plants in a half-sun/half-shade bed earlier this year and hope/expect they'll take off in the spring.

Plants were grown from winter sown commercial seed from Swallowtail as well as from seeds received in trade.
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linlily
Original Author
11 years ago
I didn't deadhead my plant this year, but will try to remember to do it next year, Kevin. Thanks for the advice.

gardenweed, it's nice to know that they are easy to winter sow. I should check my plant for seeds. I bet there are some out there.

Sounds like a really nice plant to have and very versatile as well - grows in sun and shade. I love the color of the flowers too. A couple of years ago, I was purchasing some annuals at a local fruit market and there was an apricot Jacob's Ladder for sale. I wish I had bought it. I've never seen this variety for sale since then.
User
11 years ago
I grow a sterile variety, Lambrooke Mauve which, being sterile, does not set seed and flowers continually throughout summer whereas P.caeruleum and P.carneum run to seed quickly (although they respond to deadheading). LM is a rather lovely shade of lilac.
gardenweed_z6a
11 years ago
linlily - I harvested seeds from my established Jacob's Ladder this year and will winter sow them to get more plants. I'd like to have a fairly good-sized clump of them for the impact they make in early spring.

The seedpods ripen gradually. I kept a close eye on them & harvested seeds as soon as I found the tiny pods open so I could grow more. My DIL has a nice-size established plant that got me interested in growing them.

One feature I especially like is they need ZERO attention or tending throughout the growing season. Reliably perennial + low-maintenance = my kind of perennial. Swallowtail offers seeds of a white-blooming cultivar.