john_ny

I have several basjoos that were wintered over, for the last two winters, in containers, in a greenhouse. This year, I planted one out, in the ground. It is growing nicely.
Here's a picture, taken in June, a couple of weeks after planting.
[IMG][/IMG]

Here it is now (Aug) with pups.
[IMG][/IMG]


Here is another picture of the pups.
[IMG][/IMG]

Now, I have a couple of questions. Can I hope for a flower, on this? I read, somewhere that they have to have 40 some odd leaves, before flowering. Is this over the lifetime of the plant, or does it mean that there must be 40+ leaves on it at one time? I can't envision that; I've got it up to about 12 at a time, but that's it.
About the pups: If I decide to leave this plant in the ground this year, should I remove the pups first, or leave them and just put mulch on everything? I think I might like to have a clump growing next year, but are the pups growing too close to each other, to be left as is?
I'm in Staten Island, NY, the southern tip of New York state, zone 7.

__________________
John

funsocaltiger

I think I know what you are referring to and I believe the 40 leaf number is an approximation of how many leaves need to have formed on average. It does not mean the amount on the plant at any one time, just the total over its lifetime.

Laurence

john_ny

Thanks, I kind of figured that was what it was.

__________________
John

momoese

It has been said that the timing of the flower emergence has more to do with how many hours of optimal temperature they receive then how many leaves they have grown.

john_ny

Thanks, I hope they got enough good hours. They continued to grow, in the greenhouse, over the winter, but, with the cost of fuel nowadays, we didn't set the thermostat too high so, most nights and on cloudy days, the temp was only about 55F. I hope that was sufficient.
Now, does anyone have any thoughts about the pups?

__________________
John