What to do with agapanthus in October – 4 jobs to do now for beautiful flowers next year
From deadheading to frost protection, these are the essential jobs to tackle this month
What to do with agapanthus in October depends on whether you have a deciduous or evergreen variety. Evergreen agapanthus have wider leaves than deciduous agapanthus and are more vulnerable to frost than deciduous varieties.
Add these agapanthus jobs to your list of garden jobs to do in October, and you'll be rewarded with beautiful flowers next summer.
1. Deadhead spent blooms
Most Agapanthus plants flower from July to September, and you can deadhead agapanthus at any time in the flowering season. However, October is a good time to remove any remaining spent flowerheads.
A pair of garden snips like these from Spear & Jackson (available on Amazon) will be ideal for the job and can help you avoid some of the most common deadheading mistakes.
'By removing spent flowers, you prevent the plant from putting energy into seed production, which can help the plant conserve energy for growth and next year's blooms. Not only this, removing old, decaying flowers can reduce the risk of diseases that thrive on decomposing plant material,’ Morris Hankinson, director of Hopes Grove Nurseries. Failing to deadhead agapanthus is one of the main reasons why your agapanthus is not flowering.
Of course, you don’t have to deadhead agapanthus; you can leave some seedheads on the plant to add winter interest to your garden – this is one of the reasons why people question whether they should deadhead alliums, too.
2. Cut back once leaves have yellowed
One of the most common mistakes with agapanthus is not knowing what to do with bulbs after flowering.
For deciduous agapanthus, wait until the spent flower stems and leaves have turned yellow (or brown) before pruning. This lets the plant continue photosynthesising and store this energy for growth next spring, supporting better blooms next year. This is exactly the same as what to do with daffodils after flowering.
On evergreen agapanthus, the foliage will not fade. Instead, leave the stems and foliage in situ so photosynthesis can continue with the energy stored for flowering next year. Broken stems or dead foliage should be removed regardless of the season.
3. Protect potted agapanthus
Evergreen agapanthus aren't as hardy as deciduous varieties. This means they need a little more care over winter and benefit from being grown in pots rather than in the ground.
For agapanthus grown in containers, move them to a light, frost-free place – an unheated greenhouse is perfect.
If you don't have a greenhouse, the RHS suggest placing pots at the bottom of a south- or west-facing wall.
You can also wrap the pots with bubble wrap, hessian or spare horticultural fleece for added protection.
4. Mulch
For agapanthus grown in the ground, mulch can be the difference between a plant making it through winter or not. After the agapanthus has finished flowering, lay a thick layer (around 15cm) of mulch around the base of both evergreen and deciduous varieties to protect the crown from frost with mulch.
Homemade compost is great for this, but if you don't have any, B&Q stocks organic Strulch which will provide ample frost protection.
Following this, experts from the RHS recommend 'wrapping all agapanthus (hardy and tender types) in two to three layers of biodegradable fleece for protection from November to early April.' This BioFleece Horticultural Fleece from Amazon is ideal for protecting Agapanthus from frost.
