Lithodora diffusa

Does anyone have one?
I bought one a couple of months ago from a GC because of the flower colour, flowering time and the fact it was evergreen. I looked at the label and it said it grew in alkaline soil, so I bought it to go in the border. Got home, looked it up on the web and found it likes acid soil.

It's remained in the pot ever since, but I really need to either pot it into a larger pot with ericaceous compost or ideally put it into the border which is clayey. Can anyone tell me what kind of soil it needs? As you can tell I'm hoping for someone who actually grows it to reply here!

 

Cheers. I think I'll put it in a pot, it'll be safer

 

I've tried Lithodora Heavenly Blue a few times over the past few years and all died. Reading this thread i realise they need acidic soil which it doesn't state on the label so i got another now to try in a pot of Eric in the ground in my alpine garden. Hopefully this one will work, i do like my blues.

 

Lithodora Diffusa needs an acidic, well drained soil. You can plant it in ericaceous soil straight off but if your soil's pH is >7 sometimes it's easier to get a packet of Chempack Sulphur and mix a tablespoon of that into the planting area, then wait for 2-3 months before planting out. Make sure you mix some sand/grit into the planting hole to ensure enough drainage, and if you have clay you will need to mix an excess of sand/grit, as the roots should never sit in water.

 

Do you think i'll be ok if i dig a hole about 12 inches square and put gravel in the bottom half then Erica compost in the top half to plant it in? It's going to go in the Alpine border in front of the mixed bed below.

 

I wouldn't use quite as much depth of gravel. I'd dig a hole at least 1 ft x 1ft and if you have a clay soil fork the bottom of it thoroughly mixing with compost or sand, then put one layer of grit/gravel just to cover that and fill the rest of the hole with ericaceous compost.You've basically got to ensure the roots never sit in water at any time of year bearing in mind all the rain we've been having.

 

Just because it's ericaceous doesn't mean you can't plant it in clay soil. My clay soil is slightly on the acidic side so might be worth doing a soil test on yours first.

 

That's not what I meant. Clay soil is a bad soil structurally for LD. Ericaceous soil is to do with its acidity, which is entirely a separate requirement. If you want to plant Lithodora in clay, best of luck!

 

I was responding to the OP.

I am aware that ericaceous is to do with the soil's acidity, which is what I thought the OP was referring to (as clay soil usually tends towards the alkaline).

I wouldn't suggest planting directly into clay soil because of the poor drainage - I always improve the soil first with a suitable medium. My comment was purely to do with the ph level.