I planted 3 of these early this spring. They gave me some blooms at first and then started fading. I deadheaded them and they have never come back. The foliage is healthy and full but I've never gotten another stem or any more flowers. From everything I read, they were supposed to be pretty easy to grow. Any ideas of what might be going on? This year is the first garden I've ever planted so the answer may be obvious to someone else. Thanks!
Mullein (verbascum) 'Jackie'
Mullein is biennial, and after blooming it is done, You might want to collect seeds but if you cut the flowers, you won't be able to. They are one of those plants that take a while to bloom and don't last long. Here is the links to the two types.
Josephine.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/435
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/849
Forgive my ignorance, but does that mean it only blooms twice a year? All the feedback on those links talk about how stunning the flowers are and we saw ours for a total of 2 weeks! I still have the marker from the plant and here is how it reads: "Perennial: Beautiful spires of flowers in a delicae buff-peach with purple eye. Stunning in summer bouquets. A lovely addition to both formal and informal flower gardents. Flowers are long lasting. (HA!!) A wonderful garden performer and ideal in containers." I feel robbed (lol).
Unless you have perennial cultivar, Mullein is a biennial, which means that if you plant the seed this year, the plant will bloom two years from now, and then die.
It works like a Hollyhock which is also biennial, but if you plant seed every year, you will have plants blooming the second year after you start, and every year thereafter.
Many plants work like that, and they are worth the effort if you love the way they look.
I hope this helps, and I am sorry that the plant didn't live up to your expectations.
Josephine.
Nah, I'm too new of a gardener to have expectations . I was teasing about feeling robbed. They really are beautiful. I didn't plant them from seed, I planted them from a nursery plant already in full bloom. I'll do some more digging and see if I can find out about a perennial cultivar. If there is no such thing, then I guess that means this will probably die after this year. Oh well, plant and learn, right? Thanks so much for the info!
You are welcome and keep on gardening, it is a wonderful thing to do.
Josephine.
Jackie is a cross between V.phoeniceum and V.dumulosum and is perennial. Which doesn't mean it blooms all year! The bloom period may have been shortened by early heat this year, or other stress (such as irregular watering, or transplanting while in flower?).
I just bought two of the same plant, which seem to be just about finished blooming in their containers... the nurseryman indicated that if I dead-headed AND the weather cooperated, I might get a second blooming in the fall (i.e. if it were cooler in fall).
Most sources indicate a late-spring to mid-summer flowering (May-July). The Kemper Center for Home Gardening at Missouri Botanical Garden (mobot) (Saint Louis?) recorded June, then July-October, but I'm guessing neither your nor my season is much like St.Louis. A British site shows May through September! Surely sounds like the heat spells we've had may not be Jackie's favorite.
http://www.naturehills.com/new/product/perennialsdetails.aspx?prodid=2803
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/66736/index.html
I plan to mulch mine well and water when it appears *about* to wilt, and hope for the best! -- Note: I have heavy clay soil under my ~8" of raised bed soil.
You indicate you are a new gardener, so I will repeat a little ditty about perennials:
First they sleep,
Then they creep,
THEN, they leap!
The biennial Verbascums spend a year as a rosette leaves, then the next year tend to have taller, showier spikes of blooms, but they do indeed die after that. My V.blattaria's main stalk/spike was at least 7' tall! But, I was crushed when I read that biennial meant it would die, and it did. Didn't re-seed, either, though have read that it will, some places.
~'spin!~
I did start to get a beautiful second blooming of them but the heat of the last 2 weeks has just killed it, even the foliage is turning black. This heat is killing so much of my garden...definitely some hard lessons learned. I think I'm going native next year even though I love my annuals and perrenials!