deadheading foxglove plant

I guess I just don't understand how do you deadhead the foxglove plant? Do I cut the stem after the bottom flower or just take the faded flower off?

Doug says to cut off the stem as far down as you can cut without really whacking off a ton of leaves.

Stella Doro Pruning

by kathie
(Illinois, USA)

I was once told I could do some cutting back to keep my daylillies blooming late. They have just bloomed, (June 10th) and I want them to keep blooming until at least August 1st. Can I do some cutting back and if so, when, where, and how? Thanks!

Doug says he has never cut daylilies back to keep them blooming late and knows of nobody doing this. The way to get a daylily to continue blooming is to buy the right variety. Some varieties give you 21 days of bloom and some give you 60 days - it's all in the breeding.

Stella d'Oro should indeed continue blooming all by itself without any pruning at all other than removing dead or spent flowers (to make the plant look good) This is one of the earliest of the repeat bloomers and is perhaps the best known but there are others available at better garden centres.

Cutting back nepeta "walker's low"

by Susan
(Indianapolis)

I assume I can cut this plant back hard in early spring or even now...is this true? this will be my first season seeing it come up in my garden and I'm excited - I LOVE this plant!

Doug says if it's a herbaceous perennial, it can be cut back hard in the fall or very early spring and this one is. So whack away.

Deadheading mums

by Necie
(Richmond, TX)

Do you need to pull off the dead blooms on mums?

Doug says only if you want the plant to 1) look good and 2) reduce disease in the garden

Other than that - leave 'em sit. Taking my tongue out of the side of my mouth - deadheading (removing the finished blooms of plants) is something we do with all flowers. Good for plant health and you'll find when you take off the dead ones, the plant looks better. :-)

Pruning Perennials for Compact Growth

by Les & Jill
(Middleton, MA )

How do we prune perennials for compact growth?

This year, the residuals from recent hurricanes have resulted in our taller plants being scraggly and scrawny-looking. The heavy winds and rain have even caused some of our tall perennials, hardy hibiscus and dahlias (I know they are not perennials here in New England) to bend and break due to their inability to support flowers. Can we prune these plants early to make them smaller and more compact? If so, when is the best time to do this? What effect will this have on the blooms?

Thank you for your time and cooperation. We welcome any suggestions or recommendations you might offer and look forward to your reply.

Doug says that this is an old growing trick for many plants. It works well for those plants that produce flowering stalks from the leaf growth (think daisies) rather than plants that produce flowers from stalks starting at the base of the plant (thin daylilies).

So if the flower stem is produced on the upper part of the plant, this trick works.

When the plant reaches approximately 12-18 inches tall in early June, simply cut it in half (down to 9-inche) or remove all the top growth (remove 3-inches of the top growth) This will thicken the plant growth up nicely and will let it grow multiple stalks for flowering.

Having said that - if you do this with some plants such as Dahlia (yes, you're right it's an annual) you're going to get more blooms but each of these blooms will be smaller. Exhibition sized flowers of almost any plant are produced when the number of blooms is restricted.

Cutting back perennials in fall

by mary
(maine)

Should I cut back my veronicas in the fall?

Doug says that cutting back and cleaning up all perennial plants is a good idea. You want to leave the garden in the fall as you want to find it in the spring.

But having said that, there are times when you can't get to those chores (funny how life gets in the way sometimes). The plants will be fine even if you don't cut them back. They'll be all rotted and flopped down on the ground in the spring (you can clean them up then or mulch over top of them) but the plant should be fine either way.

pruning foxglove and coreopsis

by Steve
(Iron station, nc)

I am hesistant about pruning my foxglove and coreopsis because of such succesful growth this year. Perennial planting has become a bit of an obsession (bordering on proffesional intervention). Thanks for any info

Doug says he doesn't understand. You only have to prune foxglove when it has finished blooming (deadhead the spent blossoms) and Coreopsis the same - only deadhead.

There is no other pruning needed with these plants.

If you're asking if you should thin out seedlings, then that's a judgement call and that's what gardeners get paid the big bucks to do. :-) Leave about 12-18 inches between plants and let them grow into that space.