Mine (kobold) is in a hot, dry location with poor soil and it blooms nicely. Maybe you're treating it too kindly.

That looks like a very healthy liatris to me. Yes. those bulblets can be split off and replanted. Each one should make a new plant. I have no idea why such a healthy looking plant wouldn't bloom. Mine spread all over the place. They must also reseed as I have them coming up in different places in my gardens. I have also split a clump like that with a spade to get new plants.

I purchased a bag of liatris from HD this spring and nothing came up. Nothing.

shouldnt october be root growing month.. storing energy??

where are all the roots??? .. is it really healthy looking???

what do you mean.. you amend the soil every year???

ken

It should have more roots than that but most of the energy is stored in the corms. I agree with cecily, they do not want a rich soil - you are being too nice to them.

You can separate the corms or leave as is. I don't know where you are located but here SW of Ottawa it rained torrentially almost everyday of June and July. Do yours have good drainage?

They will reseed too.

Thanks very much for all of your helpful comments. I would like to add that this plant was in very poor soil. So light and sandy that it was difficult to get it wet. Maybe that was the problem, not enough moisture. Because it did not bloom I added a couple scoops of compost blended with garden soil around the base each year. I loosely termed this 'amending. I have a prime place for this plant and I think having a few of them would be best, so I will divide it. I notice there is considerable 'green' on the little 'corms'. Should they be re-planted so the green part is above ground? Sort of just pressing them in the soil? I am new at this and need all the help I can get. Thank you all.

P.S. I am in West Ottawa and we did have torrential rains, but this plant is sheltered by an overhang of my roof in a front garden. It is south facing and gets full sun. R.