Some Plants Are Dormant…and they should be planted now! Matilija Bob 10/27/24-Featured picture Asclepias speciosa and Lilium parvum.
Even though there is no green showing ….they are just dormant and now is the time to plant them. All of our California natives and plants in general go through a fast-growing season- most flowering after that and then some form of slow growing or totally dormant period. We can define dormancy in this case as “no green above ground”. In your garden and our in our nursery pots all you see is soil. Still they are alive just waiting for their time to start growing and it is a fine time to plant them.
The obvious question is, how do you know the dormancy isn’t “eternal”? That is the they are dead. At the nursery you can flip the pot upside down and take the pot off and you should see white roots. This works fine for plants in their nursery pots but hard to do in the garden. Still, if your plants have been in your garden for since last winter or even spring they are likely just fine. This applies especially to any of our native milkweed.
Then there are our native lilies that go totally dormant and they can indeed rot. The way you check for that is to scrape away a little of the top soil to see if you can find a bulb. If you scrape away about an inch and can’t find a bulb that’s not a good thing. If you’re looking to buy lilies in a nursery pot don’t buy one until you find a bulb. Not hard to do. We sell several species of native irises and this applies to all of them.
Now, you made your selection and it’s time to plant. Just plant they way you’d plant any other native plant. Sun in the sunny area – shade in the shady area. Did the hole and fill it with water. Water the plant in the pot too. Let the water drain out then turn the pot upside down supporting the now upside-down top of the plant and push the bottom of the pot to get the plant out. Put it in the hole – cover around the sides and water. Water 1x/week. That’s it!
