always liked this plant ... and i cant figure out why ... would you call the color unique??? ..

is similar to fall asters.. maybe that is why they struck me in mid summer... a fall color ...

ken

I used to buy "Blue Mink" ageratum and "Carpet of Snow" alyssum bedding plants every spring. I haven't been able to find them for years.

The colour coupled with the 'fuzzy' texture in an almost ground cover height annual is very appealing. to me.

morpheuspa1 what an outstanding post! I have learned lots. Thank you.

NP! Seriously, these are the easiest plants in the world to start from seed. They take a while to grow from teeny sprigs to actual plants, but the only law here is, "Do not let them go dry when very young."

Once mature, these are fairly drought-tolerant, even in the planting cells. If they wilt, just water them. They'll pop right back up. In the soil, once established, they're never seen to wilt since everything else is less tolerant than they are.

Let's see. My seeding date was March 5th. I thought it was earlier, but no. The original parents on these were mostly "Aloha Blue" from way back when, but there were certainly some other ones I remember being in the mix.

I got 100% sprout--well over and ended up trimming them out of each cell. I usually cheat and leave 2 in a cell, they're forgiving. They went into the ground late because frost was late, but by May 10th they were in and already blooming a little bit.

Now that I review my records (please don't get me started on my records) they indicate that the average height has increased a bit over the years, but color is more true that I remember, with some drift toward purple that I've allowed because I like it. I do know I tend to select the more blue plants as parents and also choose from the shorter ones.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that they're one of my favorite annuals and I can go on about them for days. I need to get photos. They're monsters and it's only July.

We await your photos (while I wait for rain).

Your wish is...actually, a really highly prioritized request at the moment. I had time, so no biggie. :-)

To give you an idea, this is the southeast corner of the back primary garden. There are nine gardens. The style is generally the same everywhere; loose and bright. By September, this will all grow into each other. That small ageratum is because there's a volunteer Melampodium trying to take over in there. Right after I took this shot, it was moved to a better location.

This is the base color that most of mine are the moment, a bit more powdery blue than yours, I think. As I see yours, I do think it's time to mix some new members into the pack.

The mulch needs redoing, obviously. :-) This one is next to a 1" solar panel on one of those really inexpensive lights from the dollar store. The plant is already huge, but not very tall, and tends to bloom, then regenerate in the center and bloom again from there in an even bigger ring. It's about to eat the solar light. That weed is a cleome that I removed, they transplant poorly. :-)

I should deadhead this, but it's one of the plants that has more of a purple/magenta overtone to it. I collect seed from a few each year to keep them going, and I think they mutate that way anyway as the proportions say I should only be getting one a year, if that. I usually get 1 to 3. The leaf is also a slightly different color.

If you're collecting seeds, they should be browner than this before you pull them. Way browner. Those ones at the bottom that are mostly blown away are ready, but already too far gone. :-) I may get a sporadic in the garden later on from randomly-seeding ageratum (or marigold).

I'm having to edit that last post progressively...

This is the northwest garden face. Same style, and you can see I tend to use them on the edges and borders of things. Otherwise, they're over-dominated by the developing zinnia, and even the marigold will start to push taller as they hit each other in waves and push upward as the only remaining direction.

Yes, there are weeds. It's 90 out there.

This is the one area where they're a bit of a failure, but almost everything is anyway. It's under a fringe tree. They receive decent sun, from sunrise to 12:30, and spottily again in the afternoon. Water supply is low as the fringe tree sucks up almost everything, and it also taps the soil of any resource it can find.

The little Magellan zinnia does OK but even that's fairly stunted (the others are three times that size). And of course, I was working in the middle of the spring bulbs at the time and managed to put the ageratum too close to the zinnia anyway.

At least those new Melampodium don't seem to mind.

i think you are right.. its the fuzzy texture that is so unique ... then the color ...

who knew there was an expert on these plants.. lol ... high five ...

ken

I don't save my own seed, but I wintersow these almost every year, last year doing white as well for my daughter's wedding. Very easy to grow from seed, and I too have found that they work in part shade conditions. I think last year I did Blue Bouquet and White Bouquet, because they were a bit taller.

I didn't winter sow any this past winter but I cut down drastically from my usual 200+ containers to about 30, so it was just a general cutback and nothing against this particular plant lol. I plan to sow more this coming winter. It's a versatile lovely little plant that I like to have in my garden!

:)
Dee

I love ageratum -- the tall ones. Either Blue Plant or Blue Horizon. The color of the Blue Planet almost glows in part shade. I grow from seed -- most places sell the short varieties nowadays.

DiggerDee, how long do they take to bloom when wintersown?

I'm sorry Edie, I really couldn't say. I don't recall thinking that they WEREN"T blooming soon enough or fast enough. I'm sure they were in bloom by June at the very least, which is about the time we put out annuals here. (Mother's Day is the guideline for planting out after frost; many places push the season like they do with everything else (Halloween candy in August lol) and I see many people planting out annuals at the end of April, only to lose many of them. Our springs the last two years have been chilly, so I planted out mid- to late May.)

I'm sorry I'm not a more observant gardener! But I will add that wintersown plants, while smaller than many purchased plants, do catch up very quickly!

:)
Dee

Winter-sowing should be about the same as indoor sowing, just slowed down for temperatures (they won't sprout until soil temperatures rise over fifty or so).

I plant indoors in mid-March, and it's in bloom by the end of May, although not in any extreme manner. I'd expect about the same for winter-sowing. Figure 2 months post-sprout, or about 2 months post your last frost, which is usually not as cold a day as one might think!

Volunteers mid-season bloom very, very fast. One started on the garden edge about 5 weeks ago. It's blooming already, but it's been about 350 degrees out there. Seriously, you could bake a chicken on the patio.

Love ageratum! I grow the taller ones -- Blue Planet or Blue Horizon. Like mentioned above, they take full sun or part shade. The Blue Planet is a color that almost glows in part shade. They get about knee-height for me and fill in nicely -- very low maintenance and bloom all season nonstop. Super easy to start from seed -- which is the way to go if you want the tall varieties, they're very difficult to source locally in the spring (around here, anyway), most favor the dwarf varieties.

Sorry in advance for a too simple question but re the flowers...

They always look pristine.

I take it one doesn't need to dead head.

So a flower lasts....the whole summer??

And as you can see I am now seeing a few brown/spent flowers.

Will this continue throughout August ie with no more new flowers coming?

They should regenerate new flowers and flower again if kept in decent sun, watered, and fed. I think mine are on their fourth or fifth flowering and beginning to attack passing joggers.

You can dead-head if you like and it'll encourage new blossoms, like on any other plant, as well.

Its just that it is only now that I am noticing a few browned/spent flowers, after being in bloom for awhile.....not a one until this week...and just a very few. It seems to me that each flower lasts for a very long time.

I just clip off the spent flowers -- easy enough. The nice thing about ageratum is the flowers don't all die off in flushes like some other annuals, so dead-heading/tidying up isn't even noticeable.

The flowers do last ages, yes! The ones in June are just now dying off and setting seed, and will be the ones I collect for next year, along with some of July's flowers.

I gardening friend of mine sent me a picture of her "medallion" garden in the back, As you probably suspected the blue flowers encompassing it are AGERATUM.

Up close:

How pretty! A bit formal for my taste but I can certainly appreciate the beauty of this garden.

Also, after looking through this thread again, I'm thinking it would be nice if morpheuspa2 posted some later pictures of those beds above!

And lastly, how funny that you added to this thread when you did, rouge. I was outside in the garden about two hours ago, and in walking around noticed some seedlings which I thought were new weeds. When I got closer and lower, I thought they look like ageratum seedlings! Now, I don't know why they would be growing now, and not this past spring, but the first thing I thought of was you!

:)
Dee

morpheus, you are my hero. Thinking of all those seedlings just makes me happy.

I hate ageratum. I hate them only because for years in the Southeast I saw row upon row upon row of these at big box stores, right beside the bronze-leafed begonias. I just couldn't stand the ubiquitousness of them.

But now...they're on the list for next year.. I suppose the reason they were at the big box stores was because they are a great plant. Thanks to you all for changing my mind!

I have half an envelope full at this point. Figure...30,000 seeds? 72 will ultimately make it into the garden. This actually makes me kind of sad, but nature is a wasteful thing.

The doctor next door asked me for seeds for next year, so I do plan on giving him plenty of ageratum to start! It's so easy that he can drop it in the ground in May and have blossoms by late June on small plants.

morpheuspa, maybe you mentioned this already in the thread but just in case....do you have experience with the white and pink varieties of Ageratum?

Nope, sorry! For whites, I've used marigolds and zinnias, and pinks aren't a part of my gardens (I tend toward the bold and saturated colors). I use ageratum as the front border plants, and as a blue (and Salvia farinacea as the blue in the back along with some others).

Rouge, I've grown the white from seed, and it was just as easy, hardy, and bloomed as beautifully and well as the blue. (Again, I think it was White Bouquet that I grew...?) The one drawback, which is minor IMO, is that when the blooms die they do stand out a bit more, the brown showing up more easily on the white blooms than the blue. But if you cut or deadhead regularly this isn't any more of a problem than any other flower.

I've grown the pink(ish) variety once or twice, just as nursery-bought fillers in pots of annuals on my patio. Don't recall anything sticking out about it good or bad so it must have been as reliable as the blue.

:)
Dee

Thanks Dee and Morpheuspa.

(I was just wondering if they were all equally vigorous).

The one drawback, which is minor IMO, is that when the blooms die they do stand out a bit more, the brown showing up more easily on the white blooms than the blue

Excellent point!

3 months later, this same plant and pot:

Next year I will do a mass planting of this annual.

Yep, they're stunners. Now, if you cut that back and bring the plant indoors? Place that in a sunny window and you might, just might, be able to keep it blossoming.

I have one in a southwest window, with additional LED lighting, that's bursting back into bloom as the weather outside turns cold and rainy here in the mountains of PA. Mid-fall is arriving on Friday. Winter, next week, with our first severe cold snap. :-)

They'll blossom spottily for quite a while yet, possibly all winter.

morpheuspa wrote:

The doctor next door asked me for seeds for next year, so I do plan on giving him plenty of ageratum to start! It's so easy that he can drop it in the ground in May and have blossoms by late June on small plants.

I so wish I lived on your street with the hope I could 'hornswoggle' some of your home grown ageratum from you! :).

(We are getting closer to mid March....getting all prepped to start that annual sow?)

I've got my seeds now. I purchased 'Dondo Blue' from Diane's. I haven't sowed it yet as the annuals can easily wait a bit longer before settling into a jug.

"(We are getting closer to mid March....getting all prepped to start that annual sow?)"

They just went and are on the heater as of now.

So how are your indoor AGERATUM plants looking now?

I have done a "mass" planting of AGERATUM. And very unexpectedly it is forecast to be 4C/39F from 8 am till noon tomorrow...brr. Is it your experience that these plants can "withstand" such temps or should I drape frost cloths over them?

I didn't cover mine last night and they appear to be fine from out the window this morning. The soil is thoroughly warmed from the weeks of heat we've had, so I'm not worried about them or the other annuals I planted. I dread going out to the vegetable garden, though -- basil is absolutely intolerant of cold temps, and if the overnight got down below 40 they might be goners and dang I had some nice lush transplants this year. I was going to throw a frost blanket over them but I was in "a mood" because I'm tired of planting already (the yearly great spring plant-out...) and just didn't care yesterday. So I might be paying the (literal) price if I have to go buy plants... :0p

But no, I wouldn't worry about the ageratum unless it's predicted to be around mid-30s F. I think tonight will be cold then we start to rebound. (frankly, I enjoy high 50s-low 70sin springtime, the couple-week heat wave we had was TOO HOT for May, into the high 80s and dry -- so I'm happy that finally broke, at least)

Thanks for the reply 'mx'. It is 37F right now as we speak. I do understand your "plant out" feeling.

I moved planters either into the garage or close to the house but there are so many annuals that I can do nothing about.....fingers crossed.

(Snowing right now.... ridiculous)

Snowing?!?! Yikes!

Rouge - you are in Canada, yes? How far up are you? Is snow at this time of year unusual for you? Did you actually get any accumulation?

This shouldn't be happening ie snow (and 36 F) yesterday morning and now today overnight frost warning....almost at the end of May. Crazy, crazy.

Let's hope it is short lived. I guess time to run around with blankets and turn over some pots over plants. I've done it in April, but the end of May? That is definitely crazy. Hope you don't lose anything.

I guess time to run around with blankets and turn over some pots over plants

Exactly!

Nice job covering, Rouge! We've resorted to sheets and towels when we run out of row covers.