I cut my Purple Smoke Baptisia back to about 15 inches immediately after blooming this year. It has regrown to almost its original height and is perfect looking, with no flopping at all. Mine has always had a tendancy to splay open and flop somewhat after blooming, so I have been cutting it back some each year, but I never gave it such a drastic haircut until this year. Worked fine. Nice, bushy, upright & about the prettiest cleanest foliage of anything this time of year. Took surprisingly little time to regenerate itself, but as I said before, did not get quite as tall as it was originally. The problem that I had in previous years was that with a minor haircut it got even taller with regrowth than it was originally, somewhat out of proportion with other plantings in the bed, & still splayed open more than I liked. My baptisia is planted in amended rich fertile clay soil in an area that is somewhat high in my yard & on the dryish side (for my wettish garden). In less rich soil it might not need such drastic cutback treatment, but it was this or dig it out. BTW, it looked a lot like asparagus spears sticking out of the ground after I gave it the hard cutback, kind of ugly & scary looking, but I'm very happy with it now. Now it is sort of the perfect late summer/early fall plant that also managed to look good in spring & early summer - a very long season!

I've grown both varieties in containers. 4th of July will be a little bit earlier when grown in containers because the container will keep the roots a little warmer early in the growing season. Actually, this works for any variety. Any kind of good mix will be great for the transplant from the germination beds. I use Miracle Grow Potting Mix for most of mine. There are a lot of formulas for what people put into the holes for growing tomatoes and peppers. Earl's Hole is one of those mixtures that has become popular. I'm sure someone here can link to it on this forum. Here's my basic approach. Always think about reducing "stress" for the plants. Try to transplant by moving the entire root system and the growing medium around those roots as a unit. Eliminate any kind of "extreme" environmental conditions - too much or too little water, heat, fertilizer, physical damage, etc. Avoid changing anything too quickly. Fast or extreme changes cause stress. After that, it's up to the plant. It's really just plain logic. You have a living entity (the plant) and you need to provide all its needs that will allow it to keep itself alive. It may sound a bit corny, but try to empathize with your plants. What would you want if you were being set out in the back yard? Ted

Plantsforever and Angelica i finally got parijath plant from Mr Hemchand. I potted them in 1 gallon pot in good potting soil. I will keepnplants in half sun for this month and till early October. i live in zone 10a. It will be nice here till beginning of October. Night temperatures will dip to below 50 from mid October. Should I bring the parijath plants home then? They are 1 gallon plants. How should I care for them at home? Would keeping them in south facing window suffice? I will water weekly inside home ? Thanks Viji

Hi Romcorn, thank you. I make my own awesome mix - same volume of presoaked peat moss, pumice, small orchid bark, Gromulch, and Turface. In the mix I add about 1 handful Osmocote Plus and half Epsom salt for a 25 gallon pot. This mix is working pretty well for my fruit trees and vegetables. I always reuse it after each season so it gets easier after the initial effort. I don't have a regular fertilizer plan for tomatoes, :( I use liquid fertilizer of whatever I have on hand. The first application is when blossom starts and I try to remember to repeat at least three more times in a season. It seems to work well.