It was in a container and was doing so well that I scarecely gave it a thought. However, after the recent rains I happened to look closer and realize the container was full to the brim with water. It wasn't draining for some reason.
I carefully laid it on its side to let the excess water drain out and soon realized why it wasn't draining. At some point I had apparently moved it and forgotten to set the saucer back underneath it and the roots had grown through the drainage holes.
Because one of the roots had broken as I laid the pot over to drain it, I was left with no alternative but to repot it. First, of course, I had to do some surgery to get rid of the big chunk of root that was holding the plant in the pot. (below you can see the rest of the root in the ground -- no wonder the plant had looked so nice and healthy, look at the size of the root!)
I repotted the plant in a huge container into which my husband had drilled some additional drainage holes on the side. I'm hoping that will provide it with drainage while stopping it from rooting in the garden.
After that, it was up to the plant. I watered it and set it back in the border and hoped it would make it. By morning it had dropped a ton of leaves, but the ones it retained looked okay. When I got home from work, it looked awful, nothing but a few droopy leaves at the end of the stems.
Next morning it looked better and I checked the moisture level and gave it another drink. By the time I got home from work it was drooping again.
I really thought I was going to lose it, but eventually it seemed to pull through.
It's just a shadow of it's former self at the moment, having lost so many leaves, but it's got lots of new little leaves budding out so I'm hopeful that it will eventually look as lovely as it did before. Perhaps it will even grace us with some blooms next year.
Wish us luck!
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
