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settiano

tell me about spiderwort please

settiano
10 years ago

I bought a bunch of them and dumped them pot and all onto the pond ledges. Can they be submerged like this or do I push them into the waterfall bog?

Comments (8)

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    10 years ago

    I'm pretty sure I have never seen spiderwort used as a pond plant. Although it is supposed to be fairly tolerant of moist soils, the most successful plantings are in partly wooded or prairie areas with prairie edges next to plowed areas producing some spectacular clumps. Well drained soils are best.

    Perhaps you have mis-identified the plant.

  • annedickinson
    10 years ago

    I have spiderwort next to the pond but not in it. I have never tried that, so I can't say what will happen with it in the pond.

    I have read that spiderwort can take over in warmer areas, but I am in the Northeast and it is happy to stay where I put it unlike the mint and a few other plants I have put in the ground to my everlasting regret.

    I have also read that if you cut it down after it blooms in the spring/early summer you will get a second blooming later on. I haven't done this as I want it for greenery around the pond and it blooms a little in late summer anyway.

    It comes in purple, fuschia and one other color but I've forgotten what it is. Mine is the fuschia color.

    It tolerates my forgetting to water the plants around the pond.

    That's all I can tell you about spiderwort except that it is one of my favorite pond plants. Here's what mine looks like.

    {{gwi:193726}}

    Let us know how yours does in the pond.
    Anne

  • frankielynnsie
    10 years ago

    I have a large flowering white variety that has withstood all types of drought etc. It hasn't always been one of my favorite plants because it is not very showy but it is very hardy and grassey looking. It is in the hot sun in a perennial bed. I don't think I bought it so it must have come in the city mulch. I like the pink flowers.

  • settiano
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I've got it in the veggie filter and the waterfall with the crowns exposed. Been there for a month now. Seems to be doing well.'
    I am surprised!

  • chickadeedeedee
    10 years ago

    Spiderwort is a pretty flowering plant. No doubt!

    It will become weedy very quickly!. In northern Ohio ... right along the lake shore ... it is everywhere. Even baby plants in the grass. But ... still we would not be without it.

    The plant takes full sun to full shade and everything in between. So many flowers and colors to enjoy too.

  • diggery
    10 years ago

    I have a love-hate relationship with spiderwort. It's highly invasive here but came with the house. When I finally got around to the landscaping in our 2nd summer here I spent 2 days digging it out of a modest size daylily bed. Lost count of the contractor-size wheelbarrow loads I hauled off. Fifteen yrs later I'm still digging it up where it pops up in my lawn.

    That said, I'm constantly experimenting w/terrestrial plants in the pond. It was pashta's lovely pics that prompted me to test the spiderwort. (Hi, Anne!) I thought, I can't get rid of the nasty stuff anyway, so why not? Lol. I plopped some in a pot w/some pea gravel & placed in the water, crown exposed.

    They survived in year 1, didn't look too healthy, but it's now year 3 and they are thriving.Mine are blue & have been blooming for a few wks now. Lovely addition to the pond. So lovely that I *might* be tempted to buy the fuschia if I could find it but it's not sold here (Actually I can't believe the big box stores here sell it at all. I may or may not have cautioned a few folks there loaded down with them before they reached the register;)

    .

  • joraines
    10 years ago

    Mine is a nice clump on a sandy 'shelf' at our creek. I intend to dig some of it up and plant it beside the pond. I like it but haven't yet tried it in a wetter spot. But it blooms reliably in poor, sandy soil with little care.

  • ms_xeno
    9 years ago

    I have the "Valour" (a low-growing hot pink) and "Osprey" (white with a lavender center, much taller). As well as a mix of pink and purple varieties that seem to vary in color(s) from year to year.

    My yard is so hard on certain plants. Lots of clay soil, shade, and the dreaded Black Walnut tree. Spiderwort is my "champion," and thrives like mad even in years where I've totally neglected everything. Having to dig out excess clumps and shoots from time to time is well worth it. Even staking the plants after a heavy rain doesn't bother me.

    I just read in the New York Times that it's now considered a "passe' " plant than nobody grows anymore. Ppphhttt! With the current fashion for attracting bees, you'd think that it would be trendy again. Bees swarm around my Spiderwort like they will to nothing else in the yard.

    It also looks great in a vase. (Well, my "vases" are empty wine bottles, but you know what I mean.)