Haircut Time!
Many of the most colourful herbaceous border plants will be finishing flowering now. They all need a gentle pruning to remove old flower heads and leggy new growth. This will shape them up into good condition for next year and my well also encourage a second flush of flowers.
Pruning should not extend back to bare stems.
In this category would be:-
Cistus
Salvia
Athemis
Cosmos
Erigeron
Erigeron 'Sea Breeze'
Erysimum (Perennial Wallflower)
Helianthemum
Herbaceous Geraniums
These too will be finishing flowering. Early Summer flowering varieties may be well over already. Cut all the leaves off your plants if they look scruffy and they will soon re-grow and even reward you with second flowering.
Hedychium and Canna – after a slow start these plants will now be developing quickly ready to flower next month. Regular foliar feed will encourage best results but do watch out for slug damage and keep well watered.
Lampranthus
Now is the moment to prune up the season’s growth on your Lampranthus and other succulents. Do not throw the prunings away but use them to make cuttings (they root very easily indeed with no special treatment in the greenhouse – just stick them in a pot!) in case these tender plants are killed over Winter.
Tricyrtis
If you do not know this unusual plant, the Snake Lily, why not give it a try? It is at its best in August.
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