Growing comfrey in Texas/similar climates?

Sam McCoy (and anyone else living in the area), how well does comfrey tolerate our extreme heat and winter? Where is the best placement for it (North, South, East, West of the house)? What time is best to plant, fall or spring? Planning on getting the Bocking 4 variety

I got the bocking 4 from Coe's Comfrey and two of the plants rotted out from all the rain we got this year. The rest look good, and since he sent so many extras I'm not out anything, I think I still have more plants than I ordered. The leaves are prickly and so far my goats have no interest in trying to eat it.

Thanks Renate I don't have any livestock to worry about. I'm just wanting to take advantage of our clay soil's nutrients, and I think that comfrey mines that stuff up and breaks up the clay. So I'm guessing that the Texas sun won't be too hot for it.

I ordered from Coe's this spring. Great looking root cuttings, all are thriving. Very quick shipping, well protected plants. Sent extras too. I've placed them around fruit trees/shrubs and edges. With all the rain they are much larger than comfrey I planted previously from another seller. The plants I ordered do not seed so I'm not concerned with rampant spread.

FYI - Coe told me he doesn't check his email often so it's best to call him.

Mignon Dietrich wrote:Sam McCoy (and anyone else living in the area), how well does comfrey tolerate our extreme heat and winter? Where is the best placement for it (North, South, East, West of the house)? What time is best to plant, fall or spring? Planning on getting the Bocking 4 variety

I live in north Texas and am also growing Bocking 4 Comfrey from Coe's Comfrey. I planted 2 year old plants about 3 weeks ago and so far it is growing great. I also have some 3-4 year old plants on order. I will be planting those next to my chicken coop so I can take advantage of the free manure. I also planted some True Comfrey from seed in a pot and it germinated better than I expected. About 8 out of 10 seeds came up. I don't know where I will be planting those yet as they will produce seed and spread on their own.

I'm curious to where you got the True Comfrey seeds and what's the difference between them and the Bocking. I'm thinking of ordering from Coe's as well. The prices seem quite reasonable considering I just bought a single plant in a 4" pot from Redenta's for $6.

Where I've lived (central and southern Georgia, and now interior northern CA), there was a hot summer that was sometimes dry in GA and always dry in CA, comfrey really needed shade and reliable moisture to do well at all.

Cory Samuelson wrote:I'm curious to where you got the True Comfrey seeds and what's the difference between them and the Bocking. I'm thinking of ordering from Coe's as well. The prices seem quite reasonable considering I just bought a single plant in a 4" pot from Redenta's for $6.

I bought the True Comfrey seeds from www.outsidepride.com They were $4.99 for 100 seeds. Maybe somebody can correct me if I'm wrong here, but as far as I understand, the Bocking Comfreys #1 thru #21 are all hybrids that do not produce viable seed. True Comfrey aka Symphytum officinale is the one you want if you want to collect the seeds for re-planting or if it will be used for medicinal purposes.