Snapdragons

Snapdragons need 4 to 5 hours of sunlight.

The best way to keep snap dragons blooming is to cut the flowers often. Don't allow the flowering shoots to set fruit. By removing old blooms regularly, you can have flowers until cold weather kills the plants.

Snapdragons are a favorite of gardeners who like bright, showy flowers in the garden, and for use as cut flowers. A native of the Mediterranean region, they are now available in many newly-developed forms.

Excellent border plants…

The short types, such as the Floral Carpet and Pixie, grow to a height of six to eight inches. They are excellent border plants. Intermediate height snapdragons include: Promenade, Sprite, Hit Parade and Butterfly. They are good bedding plants and are tall enough to be cut. The taller snapdragons, which include Madame Butterfly and Rockets, make good background plants and are perfect for cutting.

Snapdragons come in a multitude of colors, white, pink, yellow, bronze, rose and red. Each color has many shades, too.

To grow snapdragons successfully, prepare the soil carefully. Snapdragons are sensitive to root rot diseases, so they need well-drained soil. You may want to raise your snapdragon beds to improve drainage. Add materials like peat moss, pine bark and rotted sawdust to insure better drainage and aeration of the soil.

Plant snapdragons where they will get four or five hours of direct sunlight daily. Partial shade for the rest of the day is acceptable. Because they thrive when the weather is cool, plant them in late winter or early spring or in the fall after the nights become cool.

Probably, you should start with small plants which can be bought at garden centers, discount stores and other places which sell bedding plants. These plants are well established and have good root systems. The plants will be accompanied by tags which will have a picture of the variety and information on spacing, fertilizing and plant height. Most commercial growers pinch the growing points on shoots. This encourages branching.

Don't plant snapdragons too deeply. Deep planting will encourage stem and root rot. Space the short varieties six to ten inches apart, taller varieties should be spaced at least 12 inches apart.

A good complete fertilizer such as 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 should be mixed into the soil before you plant. Use two pounds for 100 square feet of area. The soil pH should be between 6 and 6.5. A soil test can tell you how much lime is needed to bring the soil pH to this level.

One inch of water per week.

Snapdragons will need at least an inch of water each week, so you'll need to water them when it doesn't rain. Don't over-water them though. Over-watering will stunt or kill plants.

For more information on snapdragons, contact your local county Extension office.