I was growing MGs in pots outside my backdoor and I dropped some of the seeds into the rocks near them. I noticed a few weeks later that some had germinated. When they got big enough and I knew they would survive, I staked them. Same type of seeds from the same package.
My question(s)...Why are they so different in height? What makes some short and some tall? Is the difference only in the beginning or do some grow naturally smaller than others?
I think you'll have to wait and see, but if they were from a seed packet that was labeled as a particular type of MG (vs a mix) then I suspect they should end up close to the same in the end. However there are other variables besides genetics that contribute to how big plants get too. Even though those plants are in the same bed, it could be one got off to a little faster start, or there could be differences in drainage or soil there that are contributing to one growing faster.
Do you have weed barrier cloth under the stones? If fo maybe the tall plant found a tear in it so the roots could get to the soil beneath more easily. The other is maybe trying to push its roots through the barrier, which with a lot of landscaping barriers it will do eventually. Once the roots are through it should catch up to the height of the other plant.
Just an idea, as ecrane3 says there are a lot of variables.
Maybe I should have been clearer with my question. These are not particularly the ones in question. My Q's are more for all plants in general.
There is no barrier, just a single layer of stones. Here are the ones in pots that were started earlier. They are all about 5" tall. All the pics were taken today.
My answer would be true for all plants in general. There's going to be some natural variability in height (that's why PF lists height ranges for most plants), and varying cultural conditions will contribute to that. My best example of cultural conditions changing the height is in my garden I had 3 Salvia clevelandii plants planted right next to each other. Because of the way the ground slopes, 2 of them were catching a lot of runoff from my neighbor's lawn sprinklers (which they ran every single day), while the other one was not getting much of that and was relying on my watering (one every 7-10 days). By the middle of last summer, the two that were getting the extra water were a good 4 ft tall, while the one that got less water only about 2 ft. They were all healthy and blooming, but two of them were quite a bit taller.
Water is certainly a big factor.We had so much rain here in spring and early summer many of my plants are a foot taller,or more,than they ever were before.
Lynn
