I don't know why not. I've planted a lot of plants in pots and then planted them in the ground later on. It would be the same as buying them at the nursery; then taking them home and planting them when the weather gets nice

wayne

I always pot up liatris corms when I get them home. I keep the lightly moistened pots in the garage, and by the time the leaf blades start coming up, it's usually okay for them to go outside to harden off and then plant whenever I get to them.

Thanks. I'll get them potted today!

i hope you think about the right media for bulbs/corms ...

it might not be the usual 'hold 5 gallons of water' bigboxstore media ...

or you insure proper drying between waterings ...

ken

Are you in Oklahoma? I'd wait until this cold front has passed, its decent weather out there again and then plant them directly in the ground and not waste time or effort with pots-- not for liatris. Liatris is still dormant but will be coming up directly, they are very hardy natives. Mine should be showing green tips coming up in a couple weeks or so.

I agree with TR2 above.

My first experience with liatris corms was that they rotted while I held them in the bags they came in. The peat mix they come in can either be too wet, or sometimes too dry. That's why I pot mine up because I have better luck controlling the moisture level in the pots (just barely moist, not much at first). So it's really a matter of keeping the corms in good shape, whatever method you use. For me, it's been best to get them growing. ....Also, for future reference, once you have liatris growing, you can easily start more from the seeds.

Maybe so but here in Oklahoma its already springlike -- excepting the atypical cold front this week which will end on Tuesday next when it will dry out & temps will climb way back up again sure as anything. The beautiful short sleeve weather last Saturday or yesterday would have been perfect for directly planting where they are to grow. Those dormant corms won't give a flip about fluctuations of outdoor temperatures so it would be a waste of time and material to pot them up here during perfect planting time. It won't hurt to pot them up but it won't gain anything either.

I have planted the liatris corms in the greenhouse in pots. They are growing rapidly and will be quite tall and spindly by the time the frost warning is over. Can I shear them back? Will the foliage grow back nicely before they bloom?

I don't believe I would...it's been my slight experience, that what you see is what you get. Cut it..and you're done.
Maybe next time you'll just as suggested and plant directly in the ground. As to the spindly shape, you've either not given them enough light or grown them too warm and moist. They like being rough and tough, and grown lean.

Thanks. Yes I have been growing them in my warm greenhouse and too moist.

I've got liatris seedlings coming up a thick as grass because I didn't deadhead them soon enough last fall. They've had several hits of cold and they are just fine, a bit too "just fine" if you get my meaning, I wouldn't have minded most of them dying off from exposure but I'll be thinning instead. Treat them like native plants, not tender perennials or something you need to start early. You won't gain anything growing them early in pots so thats a waste of time.

The corms are bullet proof in the ground whether its frozen or not. The size of the corm will determine the size of the plant which will bloom on its own schedule no matter if it was started early in artificial heat. Mine come up when the weather is still very cool, when the days are warming somewhat but nights can still be freezing which doesn't hurt them. They resemble a tight clump of dark green thick grass. The seedlings are easily mistaken for grass seedlings. Much later, they send up bloom stalks, mine don't bloom until fall.

TR, That seed you sent is coming up ALL over. Even in the 150 year old wagon road in solid compressed caliche. I think in a couple of years I will have a purple steep hill side full of L. mucronata. I am excited.

I want pictures Wantonamara, or it didn't happen! :)

Oh yea? Well I'll have em in the sidewalk cracks not to mention the masses elsewhere and there's a few coming up in the driveway cracks too. If I don't address this crack situation before the corms expand there will be no pulling them out, however, I do let a few plants grow in the cracks so what the heck? I like the natural look. Maybe I'll let a couple stay out there in the crack by the curb too along the street while I'm at it, there's already a nice desert penstemon up to keep it company and some feather grass. I'm not sure about the type because I get liatris mixed up. These are from the Kansas roadside so I call them 'Kansas Liatris' which is good enough for yours truly. I'm letting more come up where I'm massing bluestem because I think they will look good with the tall Verbena bonariensis planted there, its non native I know but YOU know how it is.

Hey barron, how bout a pic of those new digs...we want to see what you're up against. Hows the lawn lake doing? My friend in Arkansas is finally getting to use his new cultivator to widen his mater garden so maybe you've dried out some too.

Well , I sure hope they are L. mocronata or punctatata or they will be toast on the hill. My suspicions that they are so happy in the caliche and limestone gravel is that they are one of the two. OK , the Poers that be are screwing with those names again. They are now lumping the two together, kind of. When I google L. mucronate, LBJ has the two separated but the Government has lumped the two into L. punctata Hook, var mucronata. They do look alike. Kansas is in the range. Liatris Punctata's range goes all the way up into Canada. So it could be either. Kansas looks out of the natural range of L. spicata.

Dbarron, nothing much to see, just to write about.. Tiny little pair of round leaves and a straight gras blade like leaf. This is the hillside I would like to dot with purple for the migrating butterflies. Their is a row of seedlings a move the brush berms in the uneven hollows of land as it drops.

It will take a while for things to look like this. Things grow slowly here.

But right now, things look like this.

Hey, it's an encouraging sign, I'll get out after I mow (if I manage to do that even) and put the wide angle lens on and take a few shots. Yes, it's finally ground workable here...though due to rain tomorrow.

Thanks all!! They are coming up!!!! Even in our soggy soil. We're in NEOK right on the Mo. Ark. line. We seem to get lots of rain here. This is our 2nd. yr here. Moved from Colo. Quite a difference in gardening.

Sorie6, I bet the type you have where you are , if they are tall is L. pycnostchya , or L. squarousa ( more segmented), I find this site good for learning about the species that are natural to your area and its conditions. Seams like there is a Liatris for anywhere in the states.

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?start=0&pagecount=10

Yes, years ago I didn't realize how widespread tthe genus is, within North America.