the Path

[Merkity]

Hi - i am just wondering for those who have The Path - is it a slow growing plant?  Mine doesn't seem to want to open its blooms.

[Mike]

Hi
I have had the path for about 3 years , I hate to tell you this but it has a lousy bush and is slow growing . I'v never been able to do much with it , I have found that some plants grow better in the ground than in pots . This last year I planted some in the ground & had the same plant also in a pot & buy the end of the year the one in the ground looked beautiful and the one in the pot looked like crap . So I think The Path is one of those plants that will probably do a lot better in the ground than in a pot .

[Merkity]

Thx! - Yes I definitely see the slow growing part.  It has a very similar look to my Hula Girl - took a year for that one to get going.  My 'Path is so full of leaves I can't see the stems.  Just wondering about the flowers since there is at least one on there that I would have expected to open by now...oh well guess I just have to be more patient...

[Ernest]

I agree with Mike, The growth pattern and quality of the bush is rather poor for The Path.There's no question that plants in the ground do much better. I have a number of cvs that have been said to have poor bushes but do just great when planted in the ground. Unfortunately, in my experience , The Path is not one of them. I have two of them in the ground--one for ten years and the other for 6 or 7 years. I would grade the ten year bush as mediocre and the other as poor.

Erny

[farmer d]

I can so far say that both the ones I work on are slow growers - one being potted and one in ground.  I got them as mature bushes that had been pruned many times before I purchased them.  I can say that now that I have replanted my in ground one with much better soil and a much bigger hole it is responding very well.  Only thing is that it is slower compared to other cvs I have.  Perfect example of how hybridizing is so wonderful when you can take those pretty colors on The Path and combine with some better bush genetics.  Charlie has quite a few of them in his catalog.

In the pics it is the front plant on the left - you can see how low growing it has been so far.  At least now it is leafing out nicely and filling in slowly.

Farmer D

[Merkity]

at long last - the blooms have finally opened - they are super slow!

[farmer d]

That is a gorgeous bloom Merkity!  I find the blooms make the extra effort and patience needed for this cv worth it.  I know this time of year everything slows down a lot - maybe three times longer than summer speeds so the blooms take a really long time to open at least for the conditions of southern CA.  

Updated shot of my The Path plant.

Farmer D  

[Charlie]

Darren, your Path bush is very typical of what I have seen in the past - not bad but with too many branches that sprawl more or less horizontally. As you said, the flowers make it worth it.

Charlie