If you want those big, gorgeous blooms in your garden to last throughout the season, timely passes with the pruning shears can help your plants produce that bounty. Of course, there are many other benefits to these extra passes through your garden. Regularly trimming your perennials throughout the growing season also promotes healthy growth, keeps your garden tidy and reduces the likelihood of pest infestation. Just be sure to use sharp, clean shears and pruning tools – they’ll reduce your work and help you avoid damaging your plants.
Removing dead flowers before they go to seed prompts many perennial species to produce new buds and blooms. This process is called deadheading and is usually done with a pruning tool or by picking off spent flowers with your fingers.
Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Cut stemmed plants to a leaf just below the faded flowers. New sprouts will emerge on the stalk. For species that resprout from the soil, cut the old stalk to the ground once new sprouts emerge.
Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Bypass pruners (which have two sharp cutting edges) are a helpful garden tool to have on hand.
Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Use a hedge trimmer to closely crop floppy plants. Keeping plants full and compact prompts reblooming in long-season gardens.
Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Use a long-necked weeding fork to rid your beds of dry foliage from any spent plants.
Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
You should start pruning in spring. As stems of garden phlox and other dense-foliage perennials sprout, cut off and remove a third of the stalks at the ground, keeping only the thickest ones. This thinning encourages the plants to put growth energy into bigger flowers. For late-blooming plants like asters and chrysanthemums, cut back stems by removing the top third when they reach 9-12 inches long. This promotes compact, dense growth, with many stems and more flowers.
And don’t forget to deadhead throughout the season! This ritual can start in late spring, as the first flowers fade. Deadheading is easy: Just remove spent flowers by pinching or cutting them off, then repeat this task throughout the blooming cycle. Deadheading also keeps your garden tidy and stimulates many perennials – like cranesbill, sages, tickseeds and yarrow – to produce new blooms.
Deadhead weekly from late spring through fall. You can use your fingers or sharp hand pruners designed for small plants, and use cordless hand shears for larger perennials. Keep a pair of lightweight florist shears and a basket handy for quick passes through the garden on nice summer evenings.
Of course, if your garden’s purpose is to attract birds, then deadheading isn’t appropriate for all of your plants. The seed heads of purple coneflower and perennial sunflowers develop into feeding stations that our feathered friends love. And plants such as eulalia grass and ornamental onion dry into pale or rusty tones that provide birds shelter, as well as make handsome patterns against the snow all winter. Another deadheading exception: Don’t pinch off the flowers of self-sowing plants. If you want your perennials to propagate themselves, leave some blooms to dry out and go to seed.
As the blooming season ends, do a general cleanup of your garden. Cut off yellowing foliage and remove spent flower stems. If the foliage appears to be insect- and disease-free, you can leave it on the ground to overwinter as mulch, or you can toss it into the compost bin. (Even if there are a few hidden pests you’ve missed, the heat from composting will kill most diseases and insect eggs.)
This gardening season, remember: A weekly pass through your garden with pruners in hand is a great way to spend some time with your flowers – and the best approach to keeping your garden blooming beautiful!
