Pentas - where do you grow it?

11 years ago

I found a spontaneous seedling of a white Pentas growing near the spot where I grew the mother plant about 10(!!) years ago. (Interestingly, seedlings of other plants came up in the same area, also from plants I grew around the same time.)

Anyway I'm nursing it along in a pot until I find a place in the yard. I believe the mother plant died during a frosty winter, so I want to put this one in a sheltered spot.

Elsewhere, I've seen them growing well in both shade and sun, but my favorite was a lax shrub-like plant growing in dappled shade.

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Comments (6)

hosenemesis
11 years ago
I can't grow them at all.
Renee
jenn
Original Author
11 years ago
Renee -- why?
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wcgypsy
11 years ago
I can't either....I thought it was just me. Had 7-8 in half barrels and I think they got frosted here...which is very odd since we don't really get any frost and nothing else has ever been bothered. They just never, ever did well and I finally yanked them out recently....deciding that I didn't think I need to grow pentas after all...lol..
onederw
11 years ago
Hi Jenn--
Are you talking about the "full size" types (knee to hip high), or about the 8-12 inch edging ones that get plunked into the border in the hot months of summer, after the petunias have expired or the bud worms have eaten them into oblivion? The latter, I think, are usually treated as annuals and chucked in favor of pansies or such when the cool weather arrives (which is supposed to be any day now).
I do have a pair of tall red pentas that have been with me for about four years. (And yes, I had to move them further back in the border because I first bought them thinking they were the short stumpy ones.) Hummers love them and the dreadful heat hasn't fazed them in the slightest.
That's the good news. The bad news is that they aren't going to win any beauty contest during the winter. They look awful--brown leaves cling to the plant. I've learned to look the other way and not cut them back till early spring. If they're going to get dieback from a frost, better to leave something you can cut off.
Both are in part sun in the lee of the house, which probably gives some defense against the cold as well. One gets morning sun/afternoon shade. The other gets morning shade and afternoon sun, but is dappled by a nearby prunus krauter vesuvius. Average garden water.

Kay
jenn
Original Author
11 years ago
Kay - Actually, I don't recall if the mother plant was large or small. I'm planning to put this one in a 'temporary' sheltered spot, probably the south-facing raised box that is sheltered on the north side by a 6' fence. If it likes it there, I'll either keep it there or move it to a permanent spot with similar conditions. Otherwise, it will go into the compost pile.
hosenemesis
11 years ago
They barely get going before the frost gets them here. Not worth the expense.
Renee