I have one of these and it opens its flowers in the morning but they close up quickly. I noticed they are opened in the shade but close after the sun is on them. They are potted, not yet planted out. Tag says full sun, but this indicates to me they don't like sun? or do they just open in the mornings? I just don't know anything about them. Are they really hardy? Just wonder if they need a lot of pampering, special soil or lots of water? Zone 5/6 ok for them over wintering?

TIA

I do grow a few spiderworts (Tradescantia) here so they should overwinter for you. IMO, they tend to get brown spots and melt after they bloom. I think they do better here when the roots are kept a little cooler - they don't totally melt away. 'Sweet Kate' is in my sunny bed but doesn't get direct sun but it does get hot there. It melts away to nothing. I have 'Osprey' where the roots are definitely shaded by a hosta and it gets a few hours of direct sun in the afternoon. It doesn't melt away as totally as 'Sweet Kate'. Maybe morning sun would be better for these but I don't have any. If you deadhead them, you'll get more blooms.

ok thank you. It was a gift plant so I do want to keep it alive if I can.

Hardy they are ,I have been trying to get rid of them for years. No matter how many I rip out they just show up everywhere.

Ditto! Known here as PITA.

The blooms do close early depending on temperature & sun hitting them. The earlier the sun hits them and the hotter it gets determines how long the blooms remain open. Mine are in dappled sun in the afternoon. They have almost all melted away for the year. They'll come back in the spring.

Best way to keep it going is to try and kill it! Like Bob and Arlene, it's near impossible to get rid of .. I've mowed over it, hit it with weed killer, yanked it out and it keeps coming back in places I can't believe .. because of that, I'm thinking it makes seeds but I've never seen a seed pod and I've looked!

I've dug out the roots, many times, and still find it roaming around the next year. I get the feeling they'll be in my funeral arrangements!

They are not invasive for me. Same patch for several years has grown as any perennial will do, but has not tried to take anything over. No unwanted seedlings anywhere either. Pacific Northwest Zone 8.

Edited to add link to plant: Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)

Oh they reseed. Too difficult to find the seed pods but I know they reseed. Funny that you guys in colder zones have problems with it being a thug. Like Deb, I haven't really had a problem with it like that & the same was true when I lived in zone 10. In fact, I dug mine up from the side of the road & planted them in one of my "wild" areas & actually WISH they would increase more rapidly.

Years ago I had some Tradescantia that roamed and didn't buy any new plants for a long time. They weren't attractive at all but they were in a wilder part of the garden. 'Sweet Kate' and 'Osprey' seem to be well-behaved. The former has melted to nothing now but the latter (in more shade) is still throwing out a flower or two.

I have Sweet Kate

When it's in flower, it makes my day. Nice gift!

I'm in a Zone 2b and I've had two Spiderwort's for about three summers. They are thriving, but not spreading. I wouldn't mind if they spread a bit. 😀

'Sweet Kate' hasn't really spread for me but it has for DD in MI. I think if I had it in a cooler/shadier spot with better soil, it might spread. 'Osprey' has spread some but not rapidly.

Sweet Kate did not spread like the others.

Spiderwort is growing all over the place under the old oak tree at my place. I have three kinds: Zwanenburg Blue,
Valour (pink), and Osprey (white). They only bloom 1/2 day, in the morning. They are melting away now, which is good because then I can check for poison ivy under the tree and get rid of it, lol! If I spray for poison ivy, I know I am not going to kill all of the spiderwort. It reseeds freely here. I don't think you will have any trouble with it dying on you.

Vickie - I didn't realize that it reseeds but then I deadhead hoping to keep the blooms coming. My old 'Zwanenburg Blue' (always loved the color) did spread (and ultimately died out due to neglect) but I always thought it was by roots. Learn something new every day.

This is a good example of a plant I need better information on. I have noted in the comment section what it is I do when this plan starts flopping, but that is just what I've tried, no clue if it's the best way to approach it. I would really like to be able to go somewhere in our database to find out how other folks address post-bloom care of plants. Obviously this would be different for different regions - many folks consider this a thug, I have not found that to be true for me. Meanwhile, I'm heading out to...what...cut below blooms, cut to the ground, ?? I'll likely cut to 8" or so to leave some foliage I guess. July is hard.