Plant Bidens – After Frost, Crown at Pot Depth

Plant Bidens after frost, at the same depth as the pot.

Plant after frost, at the same depth as the pot

Wait until frost has passed, then set plants with the crown at root-ball depth. [1] Leave about 12 to 18 inches between trailer crowns so air can move. [2]

How to plant Bidens

Work one hole at a time: dig, mix the backfill, set the crown level, then firm the soil.

1. Wait until after the last frost. Midwest trailers are tender annuals — do not plant them into a freeze. [3]
2. Mark about 12 inches between trailing plants, or 18 to 24 inches for B. aristosa. [4]
3. Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and a little wider.
4. Mix the soil you lifted so trailers drain, or keep meadow and wet-edge backfill moist — not a clay puddle around the crown.
5. Set B. ferulifolia, B. aristosa, B. laevis, or B. alba so the crown sits at the same depth it had in the pot.
6. Backfill, firm with your hands, and water in once to settle the hole.

Space about 12 inches for trailers — and what fails

Most fern-leaved trailers stay in a one-foot spill. Twelve inches on center gives airflow without wasting the basket or front edge. Meadow aristosa needs the wider 18 to 24 inch gap because it stands 2 to 4 feet.

• Crown buried — rot at the stem. Lift and reset at pot depth.
• Planted before frost — tender growth blackens. Wait, or keep the pot inside until the date passes.

If you buried the crown or planted ahead of frost, lift and wait — do not expect a spill from a soggy, frozen hole.