Do perennials just fade after several years?

[polkadotdalmation]

So I have a Veronica and several other perennials which I've had for years and they are becoming more and more tired and not flowering. Do they actually just fade like this? Also if I decide to replace them should I use the same spots of move them to different areas.

Have you ever divided them and replanted? They need dividing every few years. If I remember correctly, they tend to have a lifespan of between 3-10 years.

It does depend on the plant - some go on forever, some are shorter lived or more fragile. Lift and divide this autumn/winter/spring, add some good organic matter to the soil (well rotted manure, whatever your garden centre sells as ‘soil improver’, it should be bulky and add lots), and put them back in. Do you ever mulch/add organic matter like your own compost or a soil improver to your beds?

No, never knew that ☹️. I think I'll just dig them up and start again. They are probably older than 10 years.

@LadyGardenersQuestionTime We've got a barrel of compost so I do mix some of that in and use my left of tub soil at the end of the year to lighten it up. I've decided to dig them up and start again. We have a good garden centre nearby with great plants so I'll have a scout around there this weekend.

I think if you dig them up- tidy them up and split them they'll be rejuvanated. Some perennials go on for ever (almost) if you do this but others are more short lived.

I’ll give this a go but also get some new perennials The orange freesia like perennials (forgot name) so I d like they would work well with this.

I wouldn't ditch them completely just yet, unless they are actually dead! Dividing them is definitely worth a go. Good luck!

Do you mean crocosmia (monbretia) - pick carefully as some spread appallingly in quite a thuggy way!

Yes it's them. They are spreading everywhere, but around 4 flowers !

Don't throw them away! Pick off live bits from the outsides of the clumps after you dig them up and pop them back in the soil in the autumn - they'll spend the winter developing new roots systems and spring back into life in the spring.

I agree with not throwing plants away before taking root cuttings either with the root already on them or cuttings with a dab of root hormone to jump start them.

Plants are extortionate expensive nowadays and this is a great time of year to try growing some nice young healthy plantlets off the parent. And it's fun!

My crocosmia are forty years old and still flowering like billyo! I have never divided or moved them, but I do give them the well rotted compost from my heap, and they get bird droppings from the nest in the shrubbery above them. My spirea, forsythia, fuchsia and weigelia are the same age and also thriving.

My soil is probably quite tired I think, so I'll pinch all the compost before DH takes it for his christmas potatoes, some fertilizer and do both... split and try small clumps to see how they do. As for cuttings, been there, done that and they all die

Over time, crocosmia form a stack of corms, with the newest on the top. I don’t often do it, because I don’t dig them up, but the usual advice is to break off the old corms at the bottom of the stack and replant the newest. This will rejuvenate the plant, although some crocosmia are so rampant it hardly seems necessary!