What an incredible break in the weather. For those gardeners wanting a cool change to do some mid summer pruning right now is the best chance we will probably get. Any plants that have had a heavy spring and early summer flowering will be covered in old and half finished flower heads by now. A light prune to take out the flower stems plus another 2 or 3 nodes down will result in another good floral display in late summer - autumn when flowers last longer and are not so bleached by the sun. Depending on what plant and how hard you cut, most perennials will be back in flower in 25 to 45 days. You would not normally remove more than a third of the plant at this time of year. Plants that regrow from the base like Nepeta and Origanum etc, should be cut right to the ground when flowering has finished. Our flopped out Nepetas are having a number 1 hair cut right now. If your soil is not particularly fertile then it should be fed when plants are cut back. To avoid causing undesirable soft growth at this time of year, keep the Nitrogen (N) lower than the Potassium (K). If using animal manures which have an N-K ratio of about 5-1 then add a bit of extra K. In the photos the Penstemon is being reduced by a third, the Phygelius had a heavy cut of at least half off and the Buddleja was well finished flowering and is now back to sticks and will be potted up a size when it grows a bit. The Nepeta Dropmores are from the same batch showing what happens when they are cut off.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:13:36 +0000
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