Hardy Tropicals UK

Considering were only in March, and the two recent frosts have only singed the white Osteospurmum slightly, its furnished with buds about to open, and the purple one has already put on its display. They went like this all last summer, constant flowers and have a great hanging type growth over the rocks.

Think i'll be getting some more this year

ps. Could have sworn the purple one was bought as purple spoon with the unique flowers, and planted in that location, is there a chance it could have reverted?

O I do like them.....

Awesome stuff, I've got 6 double ones, planted recently, hope they're as good performers as the single ones.

Lovely plants and early to enjoy before you leave,

cordyman wrote:ps. Could have sworn the purple one was bought as purple spoon with the unique flowers, and planted in that location, is there a chance it could have reverted?

Seem to remember "purple spoon" not being frost hardy. If you did plant it out, perhaps its been lost to one of the odd frosts you've had.

Osteospermums were flowers none stop through last summer, Autumn, winter and now here, and not just a few flowers.. even in the coldest depths of mid-winter, many flowers... in the lower town this is completely normal however, here it's mostly a winter flowerer but the odd one gets killed everyone so often.

Mild winters here allow them to repeat flower. However, I notice they will become flower shy after a few successive mild winters.

I ripped mine out a few years ago as they were rampant and went a bit leggy.
Gonna try them again tho, lovely flowers.

Delboy wrote:I ripped mine out a few years ago as they were rampant and went a bit leggy.

Same here. Ripped tons of the stuff out and left just a few clumps. They get cut back to an inch or two , which keeps them in check. They soon shoot and flower.

Arlon Tishmarsh wrote:

Delboy wrote:I ripped mine out a few years ago as they were rampant and went a bit leggy.

Same here. Ripped tons of the stuff out and left just a few clumps. They get cut back to an inch or two , which keeps them in check. They soon shoot and flower.

Thats what I will do this time round, I have a orange and red/orange on order so hoping they prove as hardy.

you can just trim them low each spring to stop them getting leggy and they resprout from low down

I had annual ones for a couple of seasons but now have some perennial ones, love them. lots of lowers for months and good ground cover. very easy to take cuttings in october

the annual ones seem to flower more but I prefer the ease of the perennials

thanks for the discussion guys I may trim them back in a month if they start to look leggy. Although the leggiest i've seen them was the first few months after planting, they look far more compact and bushed out now.

How do I tell which are perennials and which are annuals?
I reckon all the places I've seen on ebay that sell them list them as annuals.

And when you say perennials do you mean they die back (if it freezes) and come back or are they evergreen?
Also are the annuals annuals because they die with the first frost or will they be perennial if kept frost-free?

otorongo wrote:How do I tell which are perennials and which are annuals?
I reckon all the places I've seen on ebay that sell them list them as annuals.

And when you say perennials do you mean they die back (if it freezes) and come back or are they evergreen?
Also are the annuals annuals because they die with the first frost or will they be perennial if kept frost-free?

this clump has looked like this all winter, and this one was frost hit, with the slight yellowing..