Bring it in and or take cuttings in the fall......It has not survived for me...What a wonderful plant!!!!! Do you plant in sun or shade When I got I thought it was a partial sun plant and gave it only morning sun but have seen it planted in full sun.

I had a friend that said her's came back for her one year. They never have for me though, so I took cuttings last fall, as Tater said. Mine are planted in full sun, but I'm sure part-sun would be fine for them too.

Oh my, I put my plant in the shade on my deck. I thought it took very little sun. Should I move it?

Persian Shield do best in FULL SUN. You won't get the iridescent color without it. They also suffer from root rot in shade. Only thing is, they require a good deal of water too. If you can find a place in your yard where they get sun from morning til about 2:00 pm they will love you. That late afternoon sun tends to dry them out in the heat of summer. Mine are in full sun til about 2:30 and are thriving.

I tried cuttings last Fall, as every year this plant is an "annual" I must have. They didn't take. I stuck the sticks in the yard and now one has tiny leaves on it!

What is the best way to get cuttings to take???

I have had good luck just puttting them in a jar of fresh water.
Jayman

This time last year I would have answered differently, but yesterday I noticed that most, not all, of my Persian Shield plants from last year have new growth at the root line. I cut the dead stems back to about 5 inches tall about a month ago.

Please note that I'm near the Florida line. (Stokesia died back for me in Atlanta, it stays green all year here, if you need a reference point.)

Rooting Persian Shield will be more successful for all if you take long enough cuttings to insure there are nodes below the soil line, tent the cuttings with plastic and keep them in shade. Once planted, they need excellent drainage to survive a winter in zone 8 (lower GA).

Nell

I'm just east of Atlanta, and my has stayed alive in the ground through 2 winters - and in mainly shade. Go figure.

A Persian Shield in the ground for two years?!!! That would be amazing for me in Marietta. Even Monstera can't take our cold.

i'm in monroe, between Atl and athens, and my begonias and cannas come back every year, AS LONG AS they are planted in front of my southeast wall, which is white, or my southwest wall, which is light stone, with river pebble mulch. even when the rest of the yard freezes, these spots don't.

I am right on the GA SC line..zone 7b/8 I just purchased a beautiful persian shield and of course would love it to be an inground plant. After talking with the store, I decided to pot it and plan to bring it in. I might try the heavy mulch, and bring in cuttings to be double sure. It is just so pretty! My tag says part sun/shade? I had planned to group it where I have some hostas growing well. It is my first try with the Persian Shield, so it will be a On the Job Training thing..however, if there was a way to have it return, even from the lower stem/root with heavy mulch I would love that.

I planted a Persian Shield in the center of an urn in full sun and noticed yesterday it appears to be dying. Now I did not water after last weekends rain until Thursday and it is in full sun, but everything else in the urn looks fine, despite being dry on Thursday morning, when I watered it. Maybe I should have watered Wednesday, sonce I think the rain ended Monday, but it is not responding to water at this point. So I am bummed. so I guess these can't dry out at all then? I remembere them rooting very easily when I grew one in IL. I would cut a piece off and stick it into the pot and it would just grow.

They wilt easily. The ones here that are in sun fade to silver. The ones in part shade are deep purple.

They do root easily, tending to wilt some even in shade. I put the pot in a plastic bag until they stand up again.

Nell

What a picky plant!
It doesn't like to be too hot and it doesn't like to be too cold. Come to think of it, it reminds me of me!

Ok so mine croaked. Now I need to find a replacement since it was the cneter of an urn. I really want that purple color, any ideas, I think purple fountain grass may get to big as far as the root room I have available.

Purple Heart (setcreasea) will work better if you sometimes forget to water, Kathy, and it's as purple as they come. It doesn't take up much root room. A piece broken off will root in your urn, it's that tough.

Coleus comes in some nice purples, too.

Nell

Persian Shield has overwintered here (25 miles North of Birmingham) for me the past two Winters with no special protection. I didn't even mulch them. I have well-drained soil, but the bottom line is that the past couple of Winters have been very mild with no temps below the upper teens. I suspect a prolonged cold spell with 48 hours or so below freezing would reduce their chances for returning by a great degree.

Nell the urn in question is actually surrounded at the base by purple heart which btw has come back for a third year now, but I need something that will get a bit taller for the urn.

I'd like to hear from Amyta about what she's done with that Persian Shield. We kind of hijacked her thread trying to get Kathy's urn filled.

Anything that I have that is borderline hardy (Persian Shield, Pentas, pineapple sage, shrimp plant), I take little cuttings in the fall and keep them in an unheated utiltity room with windows, where it never freezes. If the outside plants make it, I have bonuses for another use even if it's just to give them away.

Kathy, the only other deep purple plants of a size suitable for your urn in sun that I can think of would be purple Basil and Perilla. Oh, there's another option for your urn: salvias with purple blooms.

It's hard to get a plant to take off and not die in full sun without giving it a little shade for a day or three and enough water. Sometimes a plant will just die for no reason. I had one pineapple sage of five just turn up its adequately watered little leaves and die this week. It was established, not newly planted.

Nell

Ok, foxesearth, here's what I did with my Persian Shield...I ditched it! It was in a pot and I just got so tired of having it limp up when everything else was doing fine. I wish now I had tried a cutting but you know how it is when you just get enough! I have really enjoyed what others have had to say on this thread tremendously.

Hi Yall:

I have grown Persian Shield now for two years. I got
two plants last year. I planted one where it would recieve
Sun for most of the day. It was constantly wilting, and
needed watering constantly. The second plant was in the back
garden,where it recieved filtered Sun from a canopy of
huge Oak Trees. The second plant did much better recieving the filtered Sun. The colors were much brighter, whereas
the first was washed out. I moved the first plant around to the back garden, and it did better. They grew so fast I ended up taking cuttings. I dipped in Rootone, and they rooted very easily for me.
When Winter came I brought in one of the plants started from a cutting and overwintered it. I was rather puny looking by Spring. It did make a comeback and finally
looks decent. The new plants I got this Spring are much larger and prettier to me. I believe I will just get new plants every year. They aren't expensive so that isn't a
problem.

I found this thread and I hope you don't mind me bringing it back - it's Fall and some may have the same question about persian shield.

Here's mine: I read all the posts and noticed how small foxesearth Persian shield were - I think mine were that small when I bought them, but they grew over five feet and formed about five tall branches, with tons of leaves and remained a pretty purple/silver/green color (mostly purple). My question is: Should I have been cutting it back? While I like it tall (in filtered sun), I also love the way foxesearth looked - Anyway, I dug mine out tonight and want to take cuttings and wondered if I should put them in water (using distilled since we have salt in our water) and then pot them up (?) - Thanks for any replies

Carrie

Is this not the most amazingly colored plant! I have had Persian Shield every year since I first saw it. I had been using Purple Foliaged plants and shades of Lavender and Magenta. I haved used these with Magenta Impatiens, and they just make each other POP. I have them at one end of my house with those Violet Pentas this year. I have a wooded lot, but the canopy is high. Mine definately get enough light to keep thier colors bright and iridescent.
I find the newer leaves have the most color, and they fade a bit as they age. I have been sucessful rooting plants from cuttings. I just take a cutting and dip in rooting hormone. I stick into some damp potting mixture, and wait. I have best results in Summer when it is warm and humid. I have overwintered a plant indoors as well.
I usually have them is large plastic pots from the nursery. They get at least 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide in one season. Wish I had a greenhouse, they would be inside over Winter.

I actually have a question. How will this plant do near a hot tub (about 5ft away) in a raised planter above a parking garage? I doubt much water will hit it, but occasionally there'll be some splashing for sure. I'm in South Beach, Zone 10b, and am concerned about any damage from chlorinated water spray. Thanks!

I believe it would be ok with the spray. My only concern would be if it got too much sun. Filtered sun or morning sun seems to be best.

Does anyone know where I can buy these in the Atlanta area? ALSO - is there another plant that is similar looking but more pink? I saw some at an office building once and no one knows WHAT they were. PLEASE help! Thank you. Jan

I've seen them at Lowe's in Newnan this week. They're a pretty popular and common annual so most big box stores and nurseries should carry them.