The flower stalks on this plant used to be bright red. Now, as you can see, they are dull and appear to be dying. The leaves are fine.
Is this normal or is there something wrong with the plant, and if there is, what can I do for it?
Thanks for any help!
Here's another picture...
Mine are doing that too, I believe the flowers are spent and this is just a normal part of the plant's cycle. Trim them back and wait for new ones to grow.
Trim them back, really? You mean I should cut off the spent flowers? I wondered about that. Have you done this?
Yes I have I deadhead the plants when the stalks get too long or have gone grey since I don't care for that look. Soon they were replaced with new stalks of the bright color you were used to seeing.
Like guamsorbit said, you want to cut the stalks off as close to the base of the plant as possible and eventually they'll produce more flowers and more abundantly than before.
I have had three or four kangaroo paws for about 5 years now. What has been interesting for me is that they don't seem to be on the same schedules at all.
Thanks GardenSox, I was going to ask where exactly to cut off the stalks. I planted three of these earlier this summer and they seemed to do well and have spread quite a bit. Two of them now have these dead-looking stalks. The third has some dead stalks but also some new, very tall, fresh stalks!
That is interesting about them not being on the same schedule. So yours go through this also, of having the stalks seem to dry up?
Tomorrow morning I'll cut off the dead stalks.
Yep. I've been trying to figure our the rythmn of these plants for years and they continue to baffle me. I need to be better about writing down when I first notice new blooms forming and on which plants. I don't know if they rebloom based on the last time they were pruned or if it is a seasonal thing.
But the stalks drying up is definitely a normal thing. If you don't like the look (and I can't blame you) I'd recommend trying one of the yellow varieties. They still dry out, but as they do they seem to retain more of their yellow than the orange and red ones retain. The blossoms on my yellow one have been dried out for weeks but I haven't felt the need to cut them down yet. I'll take a picture of how that one looks now so you can see what I'm talking about.
They're just like many other flowering plants, when you dead-head them they grow more blooms and they're more prolific bloomers. The yellow ones do seem to retain their color better but if you don't dead-head them, they take forever to put on new blooms.
DEADHEAD! It's not just an old hippie following a band anymore.
Here's a picture of my red one at the moment.
And here are a couple pictures of my yellow Kangaroo Paw. I suppose I should go ahead and dead head this one soon, but I am still enjoying the way it looks.
And another.
I don't know. Maybe ask a kangaroo? (sorry all but I saw this thread go by and I couldn't resist ^_^)
Thanks for the pictures! I bought two yellow ones this weekend.
Good idea about writing down the schedule of the blooms. I'll start doing that for all of them. I'd really like to know when to expect new blooms.
Hi. I am new to this discussion group. Most groups prefer that we search for existing threads before asking the same question again. I know that this thread is several years old, so I do not know if members respond to older threads? Or if this thread is "closed".
My question pertains to Kangaroo Paws. I live in Orange County, CA. (Reg: 10a, 10b). I have two larger RED Kangaroo paws (blooms get to 24"-30" and higher). And, i have about 6 smaller (maybe "Kanga Pink"), foliage about 12"-15" and blooms about 16"-20" inches.
We tried both varieties two years ago, and all died. I planted near the hot of summer, and was told that they are "drought tolerant". I naively assumed that meant little water. With the heat (mid 80s, and up to over 100 some days), they did not survive. Possibly with more water. Maybe it was just the wrong time to plant.
Last fall, I planted some new ones (tall and short). I watered heavily, and they seemed to like it. They made it through Winter. They bloomed nicely in Spring.
Now that Summer is here: The taller red plants are still doing OK - there are still numerous plump Red blooms.
The shorter pink plants are not acting the same. The Pink bloom is gone, and it is just GREY now.
This thread seems to indicate that when the bright blooms are gone, then we should prune them down to near the ground.
If you could look at the photos (both the larger red one, and the smaller pink ones - which are now grey), do you concur that I should cut them down? Or maybe MORE WATER might bring new blooms?
Lastly, Why are the Pink ones gone, but the larger Red ones are still doing nicely? Or the two varieties that different from each other?
yes it's normal.just trim
