What are agapanthus stems drooping?
I have a young ‘Bride’ agapanthus in a pot, which has produced beautiful flowers. However, the stems are too thin to hold the flowers and all have flopped over. Is this cultural and something I can improve on? Marion May, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
The flowers on my pot-grown agapanthus have flopped over this year, too, when normally they stand up, so I suspect it may have something to do with the weather and growing conditions as well as the age of your plant.
If the flower stems have been reaching for the light then they may have elongated to the extent where they can’t support the weight of the heads. If the pot is not in full sun then next year consider locating it in a sunnier spot.
Mine has a backdrop of shrubs, which have all increased in height in the warm, wet weather, so I suspect this has been part of the problem. However, they were standing up until one rather wet and windy night a couple of weeks ago, so this may also be part of the problem.
In containers, agapanthus tend to do best with a little bit of stress. If they are well fed and growing lushly this may also encourage a weakness in their long, flowering stems.
Feed or top-dress with a generalpurpose fertiliser in spring when new growth starts appearing, and perhaps feed again towards midsummer if the leaves are looking a bit pale, but otherwise, particularly with such a young plant, don’t feed more.
You do need to make sure the plant receives enough water, but they can tolerate a little bit of dryness at the roots so it is a matter of finding a balance.
You may well be right that the age of the plant has played a part. If it is a relatively small plant that has yet to fill its pot with roots then it probably hasn’t yet reached a balance in its growth and may be more vulnerable to the vagaries of the changeable weather. This will settle down as the plant establishes.