by Connie Oswald Stofko
I received this question from a reader:
I have several spiderwort (transcandentia) in a variety of colors. I love the plants, however, their bloom only lasts until late afternoon, then they close up.
Is there anything I can do to extend their bloom time or is this just typical of the plant?
Also, can they be cut back to bring another full blooming young plant at a certain time during the summer?
Thanks,
Dawn Brennan
I have spiderwort, and mine close up in the afternoon, too.
My spiderwort seems to be done for the season, so if there’s a way to get more blooms out of it, I’d like to know!
Readers, can you help with these spiderwort questions? If so, please share by leaving a comment below.
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Mary, thanks for commenting. It seems gardeners are having different experiences with spiderwort.
Mine will close early on the warmest days of summer and they are grown in mostly sun. They don’t seem to spread and they bloom most of the summer.
Oddly, several people had mentioned to us while on the Hamburg Garden Walk that their Spiderwort had stopped blooming all together which I could not explain but found it unusual that they only lasted about a month when ours bloom all summer!
Perhaps the variety of spiderwort has something to do with it. After mine finished blooming, the plant died. Or I could be doing something else wrong– poor soil, etc.
We have a few varieties of Spiderwort in our city gardens and have never dead headed them. You can only expect them to flower in the early morning through early afternoon. Our tall purple variety started blooming early June and will continue through August. All are planted in full to part sun.
Thanks for all that helpful advice. I have my spiderwort in one of the sunniest spots in my yard. I can definitely find a shadier spot for it give it lots of compost.
One of its common names is ‘dayflower’ bkz each bloom last for a day. If planted in rich, well-drained, evenly moist soil should re-bloom if dead-headed. Shadier area will prevent drying out.
I have them in a shadier location and they do seem to close up for the evening. I have deadheaded spent blooms and they have flowered again but not to the same extent as the first.
I don’t grow my spiderworts in full sun. They seem to prefer a sun to shade location with lots of compost. When they finish blooming I cut them back about two-thirds. One year they rebloomed two more times! Normally they rebloom only once. Mine are well behaved…. no seedlings probably because the seeds don’t get the chance to mature.
Why don’t you just try cutting it back and see if it blooms again. I have found several perennials that are not advertised to do this actually do. Carolina Lupine is one example.
I’ve had a spiderwort for several years. It hasn’t gotten much larger and it hasn’t spread at all.
They are usually an earlier bloomer, in late spring. Not fond of the summer heat and they do like it moist. I have tried to remove this plant because it is far too aggressive for my small city property. It keeps coming back even in odd places.