How to Prune Garden Perennials in Summer

It ’s midsummer , and you miss that sweet spirit of your repeated border . What happened to the natural spring immature foliage and neat drug abuse of your plant ? Some plant are sprawling , flopping , and make you reckon they are n’t the plants for you . The undecomposed news is that you’re able to get this . You take to snap up your hand pruning hook and get to oeuvre , but I foretell it will be worth it . Yourplants will reckon neater immediately , and the pruning will promote raw , fresh growth . As my crew and Itend to perennial , we have a mantra : “ If it ’s brownish or down , we don’twant it around . ” An decorative garden and all the plant in it are supposed to calculate nice . The art of cut back is about improving the appearance of your plant . Here are some road map for prepare that will help you decrease in erotic love with them again for the rest of the growing season .

Tidy up early bloomers

Look at your early - flower perennials one by one , and settle if you would wish to improve their facial expression . Think like a hairdresser who know that some area search better with a little flow .

Method 1:Cut back hard to let new growth take over

You may want to keep hips on yourroses and semen heads on your peony . But some plant definitely need atouch - up . curry a flora ( crop it to take away spent prime or anythingugly ) makes the plant look well , but it also pressure the plant to put more energy into its root system because it has n’t been allowed to keep its seeds .

Most early - season bloomers can be cut right back to the base to make way for lush , sizable new growth . timberland phlox and iberis , for example , reward you with keen , low foliation if you shear them down .

Method 2: A light touch encourages fresh foliage

Some other early bloomers such as bluestar and genus Baptisia will not pullulate newgrowth from the base after blooming and might tend to get a bit bedraggle as the season wears on . Cutting back the leafage by a third or so will reward you with fresh green growth in the stagnancy of summertime and will do curiosity for a border .

Later bloomers benefit from a little chop

Having tended to the perennials that have had their show , you may now sour your attention to those still waiting in the wing . mum , garden phlox , sedum , asters — they all may need you to help them get ready for their time in the spot . Pruning these plant well before they bloom can keep them from flop and potentially lengthen their blooming time .

Method 1: Early cuts prevent late flopping

We lot the “ ChelseaChop ” to plants we predictwill flop . This mean cuttinga plant back by one - half to one - third its meridian in late spring to early summertime . There is no penury to be accurate with these cut , so I usually just seize a smattering of stems like a ponytail and dress by . A large swath of industrial plant might cause me to fetch some shears from the truck .

Method 2: “Stadium style” prolongs the bloom season

Pruning perennials at this time will delay when they bloom . A manner toavoid that is to prune “ sports stadium style , ” which will result in a longer stretchof color . If you have a generous supply of bee balms , for exemplar , tailor the front in half , burn the middle division by a third , and pull up stakes the back to bloom in its own time . You will have sequent blooms from back to front that will enrapture your eyes , amaze your friends , and give you that quenched feeling of having at least a modicum of ascendence .

As with so many thing in horticulture , there are more guidelines than rules on this subject , and I recommend that you experiment with your plants to see how they respond to your surgical ways . None of this has to be done for the survival of the industrial plant , but all of it can be done to get a sizable garden , if that is what you want .

Leslie Harris is the owner of LH Gardens , a business firm in Charlottesville , Virginia , that purpose , installs , and maintains gardens .

SOURCE : DiSabato - Aust , Tracy . The Well - Tended Perennial Garden . Timber Press , Portland , OR . 1998 .

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