How curious, Dianela. I wish I knew.

Is somebody eating it?

Thank you Sheila and Kristine. I couldn’t take it any more and lifted the plant. I could not tell anything except the roots were intact like it was when I planted it and never made more roots. It is weird. I have so little experience with annual plants here it is all guessing. I am going to Replace them with something easier to grow.

Though you didn’t see new roots, I find it interesting that the original roots appeared intact. I thought that’s where the problem lay. I had expected you would find them to be atrophied, or worse. Thus, a primary above-ground process, such as rust, mold, anthrancose, blight, cercospora, powdery milew, and the like (thank you, Missouri Botanical and Texas A&M Agrilife Extension) is suggested.

Do you know a good pathologist? Plant diagnostician.

And did I mention snapdragons are one of my favorite annuals?

For several years, snapdragon “Princess” overwintered (and self-seeded) here. Unfortunately, a local nursery that formerly carried it (started plants) stopped selling it after the eldely sister of the owners’ mother (for whom Princess was a favorite) died.

Dianela, I've looked several times at your photos and description of the snapdragon with problems, and I couldn't, for the life of me, think of anything that would cause the plant to dry up and die. I find snaps to be very easy to grow, and I've grown every kind you can think of. I buy very few because my friend starts my plants from seed, and though they are a so called annual, my snaps often last for about three years, developing huge roots. They also reseed a lot as natural hybrids in all kinds of neat new varieties. In short, don't give up on them because of this one plant. Buy some more snaps, and in your mild climate, you will most likely have a short lived perennial. I'd like to say you have such a beautiful flower bed above. I love all the plant variety you grow together so artistically. And the orange snap is great, fitting in perfectly. Diane

Thank you very much rifis, excellent assessment. I looked up Princess and it is a beauty (never seen anything like it around here, but will look now). I will head to the garden center and try again. I wish I new a good plant pathologist (maybe there is an online course we could take? ). Did you know fish and birds have nucleated red blood cells? One of my evil attendings tricked me with a fish smear once.

Diane thank you very much. I remember thinking of you when I picked up those dark prince snapdragons, I love how all the snaps look in your garden. Thank you for the kind comment regarding my new bed. One of my newest perennials are in that bed (euphorbia ascot rainbow ) and I find them very interesting. I also have 5 new roses from palatine like Meteor and Vulcano but aren’t doing much yet. I would love it if the snaps would reseed themselves some, so like I mentioned to rifis I’ll head back to the garden center and try again after work. I have a new hydrangea craze these days so I’ll likely come out of there with a new one (they have too many options these days).

I bought some Chantilly mix snapdragon seeds in January, but when I attempted to sow them in my indoor flat I accidentally spilled the tiny seeds. Later in spring after I had potted up some of the other seedlings in that flat I found some snapdragon plants growing. They got mixed in with the other stuff. So I have enjoyed seeing them bloom. I have found that snaps in the past that I bought as bedding plants have not done very well here so I share the sense that they can be difficult. These seedlings seem pretty tough. Maybe they'll reseed. I wonder if some of the newer hybrids like Chantilly mix or azalea flowered ones are any tougher than the kind of snaps you pinch to see them open their jaws. I think snaps don't like heat but Diane's garden gets plenty of that.

Thank you Erasmus. I am not even familiar with the different types of snapdragons available but will research them better. I read they don’t love the heat but the ones Diane has are amazing. I did not know there were azaleas flowered ones but will look into those.

How long do your snaps bloom, Diane? Here the old fashioned snap jaw kind don't bloom long at all. I think I've seen them for sale in fall though so maybe that is a better time to plant. Possibly seeds started in summer and planted out in fall would be worth trying in a mild climate.

I also like Swallowtail seeds...the quantity you get on many things is so much better . They do have good germination and growing info. When I ordered snaps this spring the quantity seemed small but seeds were tiny. I'm just glad I didn't lose the whole thing when I spilled them. I think the Chantilly mix is a prettier flower than the snap jaw kind.

Erasmus, my snaps bloom all season until the cold knocks them out. I break off spent stalks with the seed cases and scatter them all over to increase reseeding and getting some of those wonderful open pollinated natural hybrids. Sometimes I do cut the whole plant back, and they regrow and rebloom. They do look their best in spring, but carry on valiantly when it's hot. But the spent stalks should be snapped off. If you want big quantities of seed, check out Hazzards Seeds, a wholesale supplier to many sellers and the retail public. They have two shops online--one is wholesale and one retail. I've purchased from both and their snaps are good seed. I haven't been so pleased with their alyssum seed, which I also purchase in quantity. They had a neat little dwarf yellow cosmos that I grew in a pot last year because the quail won't let me grow cosmos in the ground. Blasted birds. Diane

Diane, that's amazing to me that your snaps bloom so well. I took a look at Hazzard's Seeds and they do have a huge selection but most things seem very expensive and the quantities are probably more than I need. I don't like puny seed packets but don't need a huge amount either. Have you tried Geo Seeds? They also sell commercially but have a great selection and are not so expensive. I like J.L. Hudson seeds too.

Diane and Erasmus I have been browsing snaps seeds at the mentioned sites here and love them all. I was hopping to get some to try them to see if they bloom in the fall but the Swallow tail garden site says the seeds need to be kept at 55 F to germinate. Have either of you grown snaps for fall before? How can you make the 55 degrees happen?

Many years ago, I did seed starting, including snapdragon seeds, in my home with a grow light set up, and I know it wasn't 55F when those seeds germinated; it was way warmer. My friend Elaine, a superb gardener and one who now starts snap seeds for me, has a room in her home devoted to seed starting, and I know her room is warmer than 55F. She has those heated mats for the seeds that like it warm to germinate, too. I think you could germinate the snaps seeds in fall if it was only moderately warm. My snaps bloom until frost, so there's no point in starting them for fall bloom. The plants reseed all summer, too, and I have new plants popping up all through the growing season. Why don't you see if you can start some seed in September? It may work fine unless it's 100F or something awful. Good luck, and I'd like to know how this turns out. Diane

Thank you very much Diane! I am going to order some seeds and try it. I will experiment with them this year and report back. It is great to hear your friends room isn’t 55 degrees because there is no room in my house I could keep that cold and our spring temps are just too crazy. I also saw they say not to direct sow any snap seeds but you obviously have great success with yours just coming up (may have to try that also). Excited to try some more snaps.

Mine germinated at warmer temps also.

I have several different snaps and as Diane said they last about 3 years without reseeding

Many years ago, maybe 6 , I planted 2 shorter snapdragons that were so short that the other foliage covered them up and every year when I clean out that area, there they are. Im afraid to move them because they just keep blooming year after year.

Dianela, I like snapdragons and usually grow them from seed when I grow them. I can only share my experience so take it for what it's worth. Snaps seem to have originated from the Mediterranean area and areas of France and Spain. The ones we see in nurseries and big box stores are hybrids, some of them complex hybrids. They do not like the one-two punch of southern heat/humidity and will often quit thriving or even die. That's why they seem to be for sale only in the spring or fall here, like pansies. It helps if your drainage is very good and/or you don't garden on heavy clay.

I have had reasonable luck with a couple species snaps that may not work for you. One has the funny name of antirrhinum braun-blanquetii. You can see it here:

https://www.dianeseeds.com/antirrhinum-braun-blanquetii.html

It's soft colored and long blooming and it's perennial (more about that later). However, it only comes in that color and it can get bigger than the hybrids we see in big box stores, maybe more like a little shrub.

Another I've grown is antirrhinum hispanicum:

https://www.plantdelights.com/products/antirrhinum-hispanicum

This shows it as a smaller plant with soft pink flowers but the one I remember had silvery foliage and white flowers with a red dot. These stayed small for me but also a bit shrubby. Either way, the seed can be hard to find but worth trying.

Both of these, while perennial, didn't last long for me. I don't remember any of them lasting longer than 3 yrs.

Could the root ball have dried out and the plant died due to lack of water? Sometimes if a little transplant has a dense root ball, this can happen. Even if it is watered around the plant, the roots are too root bound to take up enough water to sustain the plant.

It doesn't really look as though it died due to lack of water though, but tossing out the idea. Lots of plant mysteries!

@Diane Brakefield is that orlaya in with your snapdragons? Does it reseed for you too? I grew it for the first time last year and had zero reseeding. Was hoping to actually get a few! It was only a cool season bloomer here though but still I enjoyed it.

Iowas Blooms, yes, that's orlaya and it reseeds for me, plus I gather seed and toss it out, too, so there will be multiple crops. I get wonderful reseeding of snaps because when I remove the spent snap stalks with seed cases, I toss them on the soil of the flower bed. So lots of natural hybrids are produced. I've noticed that my snaps get woody after three years, and I usually remove them then, and the roots are long and huge. Weird for a so called annual. I'm sure my winters are milder than yours in zone 7, SW Idaho, hot and dry, semi arid desert. That might affect the orlaya reseeding. Diane

Orlaya

Snaps with roses

Mostly natural hybrids here

Azalea type snaps

Dianela (and anyone else dealing with hot humid summers), if you're interested in trying perennial snapdragons that won't melt and don't want to grow them from seed yourself, check out Brent and Becky bulbs:

https://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/product/anthirrinum-hispanicum-roseum/