Pros:
- Massive quantities of flowers for about 3 months
- Bees love the blooms
- The plant doesn't need any care to thrive
- We've transplanted a few of the seedlings. They're true to their parent in terms of color, but the parents seems like a double bloom and the children seem like single bloom
- If you want a hedge, this seems like a good option
Cons:
- Seeds! So many seeds. Each of its hundreds (thousands?) of flowers will produce 10+ seeds. They all don't germinate, but it's a numbers game. If you want to avoid pulling volunteers up you're best off pulling the seed pods off the plant before they open on their own
I pulled ~2 gallons of seed pods off a week prior to this picture. My wife dumped them in the compost, so no epic 5+ gallon photo 😭
I used to have a lovely one in my back yard that had purple and white flowers. If I was smart I would have made a cutting before I moved.
You could write the current owner, explaining who you are that you miss the plant, and would pay him like $20 for a cutting or a seed pod.
Or grabbed a seed pod ;)
Ours is from a local nursery. It's been in the ground at our house somewhere between 8 and 10 years and it's loving life! Its 4 year old seedlings are four feet tall and putting out decent blooms now too. It's never too late to plant another one.