You Gotta Be Cruel to Be Kind

I've decided that annuals (petunias, marigolds, begonias and the like) are the trophy wives of the flower garden. If you want vivacious blooms all summer long, annuals are your best bet. But like a trophy wife, you're going to pay...and pay...and pay as you "trade up" each year.

Perennials, however, are the old reliable. Think of them as a wife (or husband) of 25 years or so. They stay around and are there for you every spring, but you can't count on them to keep looking and behaving their best day in and day out if you're not willing to work a bit on some routine maintenance. Just like a successful marriage, right?

If you're a perennial newbie, you may not realize that, unlike annuals, perennials don't typically bloom all summer long. Even if a plant description says that the plant will produce all summer, don't expect a trouble-free, plant it and forget it kind of situation. 

For one, you have to deadhead. No, I'm not referring to fans of Jerry Garcia and the Dead of the Grateful Variety. I'm talking about removing spent or dried-up blossoms from a plant. Why is this necessary? Flowers are meant to ensure the survival of the plant. If a flowering plant has several blooms and the blooms dry up in order to drop seeds, the plant is done blooming. Think of it as a woman entering menopause or maybe a woman in heavy labor. It's DONE. If it could speak, it would say, "I've DONE my job. I REPRODUCED! Is that not ENOUGH for you? By deadheading, you trick the plant into producing more and more flowers because it thinks it must produce more offspring to carry on the family name, so to speak. Let's take a moment and bow our heads in thanks that no one deadheads us to keep us popping out offspring. Two blooms were enough for me. 

Check out this scabiosa (ugly name for a beautiful plant - you can call her a pincushion flower if you want to be common.) 

This bloom is DONE.

She's a prolific bloomer, but she won't keep pumping out these lovely lavender blooms if you don't remove the dead ones. You just need to observe the plant to figure out which are the spent blossoms and which are the buds about to explode into fabulousness. You could just pinch off the head. (You're probably pretty good at this if you used to deadhead dandelions in this fashion: Grasp dandelion stem and put thumb right below the flower. Chant "Momma had a baby and its HEAD popped off!" popping your thumb up on the word HEAD to behead the poor thing. Childhood's a brutal time, innit? ) Back to the scabiosa, though. I don't like to just pop off the bloom because then you have this sad stem with no flower. Pretty ugly. I think it's better to run your fingers down to the bottom of the stem above the first leaf and then snip it there with your pruners. These Fiskars pruners are just the thing for the job.  If you just take a few minutes once a week or so, you'll be able to maintain this plant and prolong her bloom. 

Catmint (Nepeta Walker's Low)
in all her glory

Catmint is a great plant for my growing zone (zone 4/5) up here in the high country with very little rain. Bees adore this plant because there are billions of blooms on all her lavender spikes. Though she gets fairly big (this is only year two for mine), Catmint is a well-behaved plant that stays in a clump and is fairly trouble-free. 

Catmint in need of a haircut

 However, you can see that now that it's early July, she's kind of looking tired. I did some research online to check to see whether cutting it back would help. Yep. Simply cut off the tired old flowers with some garden shears. 

I'll be back...

It's not looking so hot here, and I'm sure the bees hate me, but give it a few weeks and it will be back in the baby business. 

poor, faded salvia

The same method applies for perennial salvia. Mine is Salvia May Night. She's a gorgeous dark purple while in full bloom but starts getting pretty ratty and faded in early or mid-July - kind of like me when it's time to head to the salon to get my hair color redone. I cut back salvia by running my fingers down to the base of the stem with the blooms then cutting. The added bonus for pruning salvia is that she's less likely to get gangly and flop from the center, which can be a problem in mid-summer. 

Dianthus are bustin' out all ohhhver!

With some flowers, you're not deadheading to extend their bloom but rather to tidy up your garden. One example is this beautiful wave of dianthus. They're tiny carnations and have that same wonderful spicy smell. Amazing. 

Girl, you look better in pink. Just sayin'

What's not so amazing is that they only bloom for a few weeks then are done.  Once they're done blooming, you're left with dried up brown blooms. I like fall colors but not so much in my summer garden.

The best way to deadhead dianthus is to go after them with some sharp garden shears then lift out what you've cut off. Sure, you could use a weedeater, but that's like doing surgery with a chainsaw. Not only will you risk murdering some innocent plant bystanders but you'll also end up with chewed up stems that will turn brown, leaving you back at square one. Dianthus are not bad-looking once they're cleaned up. These have spread beyond their boundaries, so I may have to tear some of them out to leave room for the Autumn Joy sedum that it's crowding out. You gotta be cruel to be kind!  The sedum will bloom late summer, and there are some coneflowers behind those that will be starting their show any day. 

a few blooms had to die for the greater good

If you've got some pent-up frustration (maybe from that trophy wife issue), you can really go to town while deadheading a plant that holds its blooms out on longer stems. The flower stems on these Johnson's Blue geraniums stand out far from the base plant like nasty spider legs, so just grab on and give the stems a good yank. I've had good luck with these blooming later in the summer, and even if they don't, they have a nice mounded shape while you wait for more color. 

Hopefully, you won't give up on those perennials that seduced you in the Home Depot garden section. With a little tough love you'll probably coax them into performing for you before you trade them in for new in-bloom models.   

If you want to know more about how to care for and love your plants over the years, this gem of a book is a great resource: 

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden