Saturday July 22nd

Posted by Alistair on Saturday, July 22nd, 2006

At this time of year some of the perennials that flower June/July can start to look a bit tired, overgrown and simply past their best. Astrantia, and Geranium respond very well to cutting back hard at this time of year, and instead of the worn out plant, very soon you will be rewarded with fresh lush growth and a second flush of flowers.

This method is not simply dead heading the spent flowers, but cutting back the whole plant to about six or eight inches, it may sound severe but it works a treat, and your plant will also be all the more healthy for it. Alchemilla Mollis is another Perennial that does well with this treatment, a plant with beautiful young pale leaves that start to look very tatty by the third week in July, cut this one hard back and it will soon look like it did in late May.

In spite of these little tidying up jobs the gardens are probably looking just about at their best now. Here is a pic of the main part of our back garden.