I think it is worth a try. THey may be starved little runts.

How close is too close? I have Venidium blooming now too, they seem the right size, planted about 4-5" apart, but I have lots of annuals this year that are stunted due to the weather. First it was too cold and wet, then too much wind. Then heat and no rain, plus the wind, made them stunted, and started to form blooms before they are tall enough. In my region, it's a bad year for annuals. We just haven't hit that magical time yet where things just take off and seem to grow over night. I hope it comes soon.
Cheryl

Cheryl,
Liza, thanks for responding...I did give them some fertilizer the other day....and the soil is mainly topsoil, with little composted manure etc....not like how I plant roses..

Cheryl, how large are your venidium blooms? I thought I read that they were supposed to get to be 4 inches wide...so far, my blooms are only about 1 inch wide!! BTW, when I opened my email (your post), it said that you planted your Venidium about 4-5 feet apart! (The " symbol ALWAYS is translated into a ' symbol in my emails). I wondered, wow, she must have a HUGE garden to space her plants that far apart (or be crazy!) :0) Yeah, our weather has been so strange. It is very hot lately, (after months of cool temps and rain)....I have been watering often. Thanks for the help guys! :0) Phyl

In my experience venidium needs about 4' per plant, HA. I grew them a few years ago and ripped them out half way through the season because the plants sprawled everywhere, and thier fuzziness irritated my skin. I did like them though and they were definitely closer to 4" instead of 1". I suspect it is the weather more then crowding as with mine a few would have simply overtaken the rest and crowded them out.I grew mine in a border with polar white annual chrysanthmum and white feverfew and it was really pretty...first year gardening that bed so I had to fight the thistles and nettles that came up in the bed.

MAde picking a challenging adventure!

Ok, Liza, so you ARE serious about planting them 4 FEET apart? I'm not sure if you're being facetious with the 4 FEET or serious-hard to "hear" inflections in an email, pretty new to gardening all in all. Cheryl said about 4-5 inches apart. Sorry, not sure how naive I am here. :0) Phyl

Hi everyone...ok...I've tried starting venidium for two years...what's the trick? Direct sowing? I love the pictures, just haven't gotten the flowers yet!!
Thanks,
Wendy

Well, I was being a little facetious but not much. Actually I think I would give each plant 24-30 inchews and not plant anything else with it. THye do really sprawl out. Also, just a few plants will produce a whole lot of flowers. The flowers close at night so they are of limited usefulness. THey are very striking during the day however.

Thanks, Liza, for clearing that up for me! :0) Phyl