White Spiderwort drooping
Quick answer
If your White Spiderwort is drooping, the most likely cause is: After the late-spring and summer bloom is finished, white spiderwort foliage declines and the plant goes summer-dormant before reemerging in fall; in containers and hanging baskets the same mechanism shows up as the long stems and leaves visibly drooping, with the loose clumps looking spent even though the crown is alive.
Start here:
- 1. When flowering finishes, cut the plant back 6 to 8 inches from the ground to promote fresh basal growth and a possible rebloom rather than leaving the drooping stems in place.
- 2. Re-pot or divide every 3 years into a loam-based or rich moist compost so the rootball can support the new upright flush instead of letting stems flag from a packed root zone.
Why White Spiderwort is drooping
Tradescantia virginiana var. alba
After the late-spring and summer bloom is finished, white spiderwort foliage declines and the plant goes summer-dormant before reemerging in fall; in containers and hanging baskets the same mechanism shows up as the long stems and leaves visibly drooping, with the loose clumps looking spent even though the crown is alive.
How to help White Spiderwort that is drooping
- 1
When flowering finishes, cut the plant back 6 to 8 inches from the ground to promote fresh basal growth and a possible rebloom rather than leaving the drooping stems in place.
- 2
Re-pot or divide every 3 years into a loam-based or rich moist compost so the rootball can support the new upright flush instead of letting stems flag from a packed root zone.
Keep this White Spiderwort from ending up drooping again
Plant in sun to part shade in average, moist to wet soil where the cool root zone slows the post-bloom slump, and interplant white spiderwort with neighbours such as geraniums, ferns, or hostas whose foliage disguises the natural midsummer droop.