cheap perennials - info and question

[fruit&vegvirgin]

a certain high street chain (whose name begins with W) is doing a BOGOF on perennials at the moment - worth a look if you have gaps to fill in the border... I got rudbeckia (2), eryngium (3), echinacea (3) for about a tenner.

a question though: mine sat in their packets in the porch for a couple of weeks, and because the ground is so hard and frost is forecast, I planted them up into pots yesterday and put them in the coldframe. should I cut off the pale and flimsy looking shoots that they made in their dark little packets, or just leave them?

[andrewo]

Shoots

I would leave them for now, they are protecting the crown of the plants against cold. I would wait until all frost is past before removing them and then only when they are planted in situ with a good dose of blood, fish and bone.

If you remove them, they may start to grow fresh shoots and then they inturn will be subject to any frost.

Andrewo