The gardener who knows how and which plants to shear, and is not afraid to cut, will have a neater garden and often a second crop of blossoms, sometimes a third.
Is your annual sweet alyssum looking seedy and untidy? Shear about an inch off the top—enough to remove the seeds.
For continuous bloom, some gardeners cut one side of the row, and when that is blooming again, cut the other side.
To Keep Pansies Blooming
Pansies get leggy and stop blooming as summer advances. So cut them back severely to encourage new growth.
Mulch the plants to keep the ground cool—water when necessary. The pansies will bloom again as the cooler days of failure arrive. Give violas the same treatment.
Hardy candytuft (Iberia sempervirens) should be cut back carefully after blooming by removing the ends of bloomed stems.
The plant will appear neater, even though it may not bloom again until another spring. If the foliage winter burns, cut it back in the spring to where new leaves are starting.
Spring often finds Vinca minor looking winter-weary. If time permits, shear off all the old growth. However, the new growth covers everything nicely if time passes and the task is not attended to.
After The First Blooming
Standing cypress (Gilia rubra) may produce a second and even a third crop of blossoms. After the first blooming, cut the stems just below the lowest faded blossoms.
Repeat after the second crop of blossoms fades for a third crop. If the spent flower stems are not removed, the plants make seeds and few, if any, more flowers.
Certain plants, beautiful and desirable, must be checked lest they smother more delicate plants. If they are kinds that spread by underground roots, it does no good to shear the top. Instead, use a spade to cut off roots that are out of bounds.
These invasive plants include Monarda, Boltonia, physostegia, hardy ageratum (eupatorium), and the white loosestrife. Sometimes dianthus, sundrops (Oenothera), and the early double Oriental poppies must also be restrained in this manner.
Plants that tend to lop over can be sheared back just enough not to invade their neighbor’s domain or the lawn. Babysbreath (Gypsophila) and hemerocallis are examples.
Keep Faded Phlox Trimmed
Flower heads of perennial phlox should be removed when most of the flowers have faded to prevent seeds from forming and to encourage a second crop of blossoms. Annual phlox continues to bloom if cut back to prevent seed formation.
For a continuous supply of snapdragons, get an early-blooming variety and one or more varieties that bloom later. Then, the second variety will bloom when the blossoms fade on the early ones.
Shear off the stems of faded flowers from the first. They will make new growth and buds and be ready to bloom again when the later varieties have finished and are ready to be cut back.
Delphiniums, Penstemons
Certain plants make new base growth, some from below the soil surface, as delphiniums, and some just at soil level, as Penstemon grandifforus and its hybrids.
Remove seed pods that form very quickly on delphiniums; as soon as new base growth is well started, shear off all the old growth.
A second crop of blossoms will be the reward. Penstemons that make new basal rosettes will probably not bloom until another year, but to prevent seeds and for a neater appearance, the old growth should be removed when the new rosettes are well started.
Shear off stems of the purple salvia after blooming to induce re-bloom. Isatis glauca (Woad) will produce a second crop of yellow blossoms if the top growth is sheared to remove the spent blossoms. Shearing rejuvenates plants by preventing seed pods from developing.
44659 by Olga Rolf Tiemann