Care of Stargazer after it bloomed????

[TOM KAN PA]

OK, the Stargazer has bloomed and the petals have fallen. What should be done now? Any way to encourage another bloom this year?

[Vox Humana]

It is a situation that calls for benign neglect. When it dies back (which mine have done already) cut it off at the ground.

[TOM KAN PA]

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Thanks!

[madgardener]

feed it bulb food (a teaspoon is fine, worked into the soil around where the bulb is) in the fall.......... madgardener

[HA HA Budys Here]

Isn't it also wise to clip off the seed pods? (Keep the plant from using energy to create seeds, but rather re-build and multiply at the bulb?)

[Bill R]

Sorry Tom, there isn't a way to force them to bloom again this season. The only thing I do to mine is mix some bulb food with the soil when I plant my fall bulbs (usually late October; the Stargazers are in the same bed as the spring bulbs).

The Stargazer's foliage will die back so don't worry when you see it turn brown. You do need to keep an eye on it and if it you a seed pod forming you want to break it off (it saps strength from the bulb).

[TOM KAN PA]

I have no seed pods on either plant. The blossoms lasted close to two weeks then fell off petal by petal.

[Vox Humana]

Same here. I have red and yellow. They didn't set seed. I cut them back today when I did some general clean-up and weeding. They bloomed around the second week in June and they died back to the ground already. My sister who lives in NE Ohio said that hers are blooming now.

[JorgNS]

What is a seed pod and what does it look like?