For two years now I’ve had miserable luck growing snapdragons. The seedlings sprout so well for me and look healthy and happy, but once I get the plants in the garden they just sit and pout.
Last summer I was rebuffed by the Chantilly series. This year I tried the Arrow series. The plants are supposed to grow 24 to 30 inches tall. I don’t think any of mine got taller than 12 inches. Because I put them in the back rows of my flowerbeds they got buried by plants that actually reached their listed heights. Ahem.
To add to the misery, most of the plants were floppy and needed staking despite the fact they barely grew to begin with. I pinched them off numerous times as seedlings and they got the same “fan treatment” to give them sturdy stems, but apparently it just didn’t take.
This is ‘Arrow Magenta’. It looks pretty good here, but that’s because you can’t tell it’s only 10 inches tall. It’s also probably the best photo I took all summer of any of the Arrow snapdragons I grew, and I tried 4 different colors and planted them in various locations.
I love the bold colors of snapdragons. And it’s fun to watch the bumblebees get swallowed up by the flowers as they crawl in to gather nectar. All you see are their little hind ends sticking out.
I used to buy snapdragons from my local garden center each spring. I used them to fill in emergency gaps or add some color to the middle and back of the border where zinnias and marigolds rule supreme. That garden center has since closed and I can’t find any other places in the area that sell tall snapdragons.
I really want to grow my own plants, but so far they’re just not cooperating.