Agapanthus- never have any luck with flowering from bulbs.

[AegeanBlue657]

Not that keen on buying some plants in flower as ££££ but might have to.

Ant ideas where I may be going wrong? Are buying plants in flower a more likely way to get flowers in subsequent years?

I know the ones on flower are expensive but my DSis has one that was bought 15ish years ago and it seems to have spread and puts in a fabulous show each year.

Do you dig them up if they don’t flower? I think the ones that you buy bare root are probably just young and need a few years to come on. They also like a lot of sun and you often hear that they like to be pot bound but I’ve seen amazing displays where they are growing in the ground.

Have you tried them in pots or a bed?

I think they are plants that seem to like being surrounded by other plants/squished in a bit, so perhaps a pot might work if a bed doesn't. Mine took about two years to flower from a bulb and seemed to work better when the bed was full. And I planted some nerine bulbs in April 2019 - one finally flowered last summer.

I remember Monty saying they like their roots constricted and poor soil. So I put mine in a pot and ignored it and last year it had 18 flowers 😱

Is it too late to plant them for this year?

Definitely not if you are in the UK and planting outdoors. I planted my bulbs in April. They need to start off in slightly warmer soil than it is at the moment- they are native to southern Africa I believe. Plus it will likely go colder again at the end of this month. I'd wait until March at least. But be patient, mine took more than 12 months to flower.

Well they aren't bulbs. Are you sure it's agapanthus you are planting - it should be a fleshy rooted plant. I've always found them fairly easy -- but they might take a year or two to get properly going.

Well, I guess they are rhizomes not bulbs, but an online search for agapanthus bulbs will get you plenty of results.

I have heard that they like to be pot-bound too.

My DSis are in the ground but yes it's fairly poor soil, they're pretty much ignored and they are hemmed in at the end if a bed jutting up against the patio.

They take at least a couple of years to get going, mine flowered beautifully on its third year but then last year had a rest with no flowers. Unfortunately I think the December cold snap has killed it!

Where you are buying them from and where are they planted?

Some good advice I got was when you divide them, saw through the roots. Don’t attempt to tease them apart. This seemed to work with a root division I repotted and gave away that flowered the same year.
I have also found they can take years to get going in the ground.
I think my evergreen ones may also have died this winter.