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Bachelor Buttons Flopping Over

16 years ago

My first bachelor buttons I planted HOS, and I didn't break them up at all, just planted them out as one huge HOS. They're probably around 3 ft. tall now.The combination of too many planted together, plus several storms have caused them to be a mess and all flopped over. I put in a plant support today, but they are still a mangled mess. I'm guessing I should have put in the support earlier. I planted them next to a rose shrub, and they are obscurring optimum view of the roses. I have since planted my subsequent bachelor buttons in smaller HOS bunches.

My question: Can I cut them back really low like 6 inches to a foot? Would they flower again with such a severe pruning? Or would it be better to yank them and put something more appropriate for that spot?

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Comments (6)

trudi_d
16 years ago
You can cut them back, they will resprout and bloom. I've got a big three footer and it's got flopping stems too, and we haven't had storms. It's really just the nature of the plant. In the wild the plant will flop its stems over and they will bloom horizontally. The seeds are heavy, not airborne, and drop beneath the flopped stems. In this way it will spread and colonize.
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mo_girl
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks :) That's good to know. I picked a spot that ended up being to small for them. They shot up so quickly. I don't know what to expect from most of the flowers I've planted, so it's going to be quite a learning experience this summer.
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i have a bunch of free loaders ... self sown ... maybe a couple thousand .... they are allowed to progress thru there natural progression.. to seed out for next years posse ... within 2 weeks.. i will be tearing them all out ... its just not worth picking single flowers.. nor hair cutting ... they have pleased me wildly with that blue color.. plus some of the genetic throwbacks of pink and purple .... but the issue of the original post is whether to go plant them in july ... i say no ... you will harm them a week before their prime show .... and i doubt they will recover ... you dont transplant things.. when the flowers are just getting ready to burst out .... that is my point ... the NATURAL show is just to short .... ken PS: EVERYTHING can be deadheaded.. to prolong the show ... but on some plants.. it just isnt worthwhile ... and in my yard.. these arent .... but that surely doesnt mean.. that is how you will prefer to do it .... find out for yourself ...
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Bachelor buttons are very easy to grow. No need to ws them. I have volunteers from last year's plants. If you harvested them last year, you can direct sow the seeds around mid march to early april since you're in z4. My bachelor button volunteers laughed at our 30-32F the other night. Last year, I transplanted 3" tall volunteers but I made it sure that I dug the rootball big enough. Didn't have any issues.
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I remember a post saying osteopernums grow and flower really quickly. I can't attest to that first-hand, but am going to give them a try next year. Susan - That Mexican Slipper Flower is so unique looking. I've never seen those before. I'll have to remember those for next year. threeorangeboys - My bachelor buttons did the same things. They grew really tall and then flopped all over the place. I posted about this very topic, and these are the responses I got. Next year I may look for the dwarf variety. I pruned back my current ones and thinned them out a bit. They're starting to grow back, but I can't tell yet if they're going to stay straight once they grow taller and flower. Here is a link that might be useful: Bachelor Buttons Flopping Over
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Comments (13)
I found this post when trying to look for what we'd determined is the precise name of grandma's "sailor's buttons" -- yep, I think I'm the one who started Ginny on this quest years ago -- so I had to resurrect the thread with a photo of the specific plant we were discussing. This variety definitely does NOT reseed or spread via runners, as do many ranunculae (?). It's a clump that has expanded very politely ever since I was able to locate it in a spot where it's happy. This location is reliably moist - even has standing water briefly during hard rains - and reasonably sunny. Apologies for the graininess of the photo; it's a portion of a larger picture, where something else entirely was the focus. But I had to show Ginny, and thank her again for helping me ID this fabulous plant!
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vera_eastern_wa
16 years ago
They are common weeds around here (being monitored for addition to the noxious weed list) and on dry, sunny and hot sites they never flop and are usually at about 3'.

Vera
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bakemom_gw
16 years ago
I grow mine in nearly drought conditions with things like gaillardia and nepeta. They don't flop. They're good for a cottage look.
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kqcrna
16 years ago
The tall ones drove me nuts last year doing the same thing. The dwarfs are nicer I think. I have one volunteer of that this year. It's just starting to bloom now, very pretty.

Karen
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mo_girl
Original Author
16 years ago
I won't water the second batch of bachelor buttons I planted out so much. I watered the others pretty frequently when it didn't rain.

I didn't know there were dwarf bachelor buttons. I didn't notice any at the seed racks I was looking at anyway. I will keep that in mind for next year.
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