Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Growing Snapdragons in Central Florida



usi aluminiu has left a new comment on your post "Snapdragons":

In my garden i can`t grow snapdragons. They need something special or i don`t know, some conditions?



Posted by usi aluminiu to Gardening in Central Florida at 8:58 AM

Snaps are a BREEZE for me... they need abundant sun, well-drained soil (no problems there), and sometimes some support (tho i often let them flop and then they grow bushier). timing is probably the hardest thing--they take FOREVER to grow from seed. 

In my garden, all the snaps you see are volunteers from last year's crop. (Consistent irrigation (not TOO much water) is key here: When they germinate, they need damp soil.) They typically infest beds, and I pull out hundreds of seedlings every year. I also collect seed and plant it in windowboxes in September. They take a hundred plus days to mature... and they stay tiny most of the time. but as soon as the weather warms, they take off. The ones that I plant in windowboxes get transplanted throughout the garden.

My experience: They transplant well, are reasonably low in their water needs, bloom from the beginning of March (earlier, sometimes) until mid-June. SAaved seed is HIGHLY variable. But charming in its outcome: I have some peach and yellow picoteed ones out there now.  

At the end of the season, let the seed pods dry thoroughly before ripping them out... 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

They grow well for us too. My daughter things it is fun to "tip the seed cups" over and plant the seeds. A batch always seems to come up and it the patch is getting slowly bigger, but hasn't taken over yet.

Cheryl M said...

I came here from Minnesota and love snapdragons. They grow so easily in Minnesota. I planted seeds in pots and put them on the lanai. It has been 2 months and I have thinned them twice, but they are only about 2-3" tall. My gosh in Minnesota they multiplied so fast I had them all over. They grew in rocks, dirt, between the cement cracks of the driveway. I have watched and cared for these but they are growing so slow. Can I take these small 1"-2" seedlings and transplant them when they are so small? I hate thinning them and throwing the picked ones away! I can put them in more pots I have.
Will these eventually grow up to actually produce flowers?