Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, the votes are in.
I seem to have woad! (After my confusion two years ago, of id'ing a young plant as weld, and then simply not really seeing it until it was unmistakeably blossoming woad, I haven't trusted myself.)
Now the question is, do I leave it there, in the Wendy-house garden, which is really not the most gardeny of gardens. Do I move it? try to find somewhere the little woads can flourish? And will I see a return of the calendula (which was wonderful) and the alkanet?
For all that woad is supposed to be invasive, I find that our yard tends to win out over most plants. Only thistles reign supreme!
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3 comments:
Calendula - tough call. It's supposed to be an annual, but my experience of it is that it's an absolutely virulent self-seeder. So.... in your yard?
Alkanet is a biennal hardy in zones 4-9 - again, a tough call in your yard.
Richter's online catalogue is quite improved by the way - you might want to check it out for info!
Karen
Because Alkanet is biennial though, if it flowered last year, it won't this year, and you may, or may not see much growth out of it either.
The woad however is tricky. As much as some folks we know suggest that Woad is invasive and unkillable, I've managed quite nicely to kill it once. The big secret,if you want to move it, is to make sure you get all the root. It should have a quite large tuberous rootball. Don't accidentally hack it off too short, cause that's how I killed mine.
I'm not sure which one the Wendy garden is, but if the Woad's been growing there for some time, and it gets at least 8 hours of sun, it can likely stay there. I'd just clear away any clutter from around it and give it some mulch. Otherwise it gets ignored in my garden - I don't generally even water it in the driest periods because that's reserved for the food plants.
If it is 2nd year woad, it will have lovely flowers. Let the woad plant stay where it is, flower and once the seeds are harvestable ( is that a word?), harvest the seeds and plant them in the new spot. You should be able to do it all this year and still get a useable woad harvest, as well as seeds for next year.
I've found large woad plants more difficult to deal with. It is hard to get all the root. They don't seem to like to transplant once they are big. Small ones, no problem.
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