Balloon Plant

Early to bed and late to rise is the rule for these. But easy to see if they are surviving, scrape away the soil and the 'bulb' (not one really but they got a large succulent root) should be there and firm. If not then they have gone!

Is the ballon plant Platycodon? If it is, mine is just breaking surface this weekend. I had to put sticks in the soil to mark its place as it dies away totally.

Mine has only just appeared! I noticed it yesterday.

thanks guys! i will look at the 'bulbs' this evening. i hope they are ok as i havent seen them for sale anywhere other than where i bought them last year, which is now 370 miles away for me!!

hiya guys! just to let you know that i did kill them :(

but the good news is i managed to get a couple more from the supermarket again. so i have potted them in peat free soil and fairly big pots in the yard so that they have plenty of room to grow. i didnt realise how big they can get! i cant wait to have a garden again and watch them turn into bushes!

happy gardening!

Hi Jeannie - I am a bit puzzled. If we are talking about Platycodon, they don't get big, they are quite compact plants.

I wonder if you are asking about a different plant altogether?

sorry to puzzle you, spritzhenry.

it is the platycodon im talking of, and whilst initally thinking they were just small pot plants i later found out that they can grow to a foot high and a foot and a half wide......that's a bush to me! i cant have any bushes bigger than that in my tiny yard/garden!

Thanks - I haven't seen any quite that large. We live and learn!