I've been growing them for several years now and have very good luck with them. Mine are in full sun, meaning NO shade at all during the day. I always let them go to seed and shake the seed on the ground right where they're growing. I've heard they're rather short lived and I know it generally takes a year before they bloom, so I make sure there are plenty of new ones on the way by reseeding. I do stake mine, but it's very windy where we live.
This is my favorite and it about 6 years old. This year it had about 25 flower stalks and was around 6 feet tall. It's an incredible sight to see!
'Blue Lace'
These are two years old now.
'Royal Aspirations'........................................................'Pagan Purple' (it's by a 4 foot fence so you can see how tall it is)
I have several others too including a pink one. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of those.
I purchased most of mine on line from here:
http://www.gracefulgardens.com... They are sold out for the year but keep them in mind for spring planting if you're interested. I highly recommend them!
If anyone is interested I will probably have some seed to share from 'Blue Lace', if you don't mind waiting a year to see flowers. (If they haven't all fallen to the ground by now, that is.) Just tree-mail me.
Edited to add that this website also has good info on growing them:
http://www.gracefulgardens.com...
