The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Monthly Archives: September 2012

“Prune in June” – Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ – UPDATE

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .
On a whim, I pinched back one of my three Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ perennials back in June just to “see what happens”. How’s that for motivation?
Unlike the cultivar ‘Autumn Joy’ which almost always toppled over for me in the past, ‘Autumn Fire’ has remained upright and flourished through the summer and into the fall. But I couldn’t resist tweaking this late bloomer just for shits and giggles. 
Here are the results to date:
Here is the sedum just after being pinched back in late June:

  

And here is how one of the individual stems look today: 

As compared to one of the unpinched sedums:

As you can see, the pinched ‘Autumn Fire’ has more blooms per stem which are smaller than the unpinched sedums.

Here is a shot of the entire pinched ‘Autumn Fire’:

And a photo of an unpinched one:

Obviously, the pinched sedum is “behind” the other two in terms of bloom time and that was expected. You can see that better in the photo below (pinched sedum is at the top):

So, what does it all mean? I’m not sure.

The pinching worked as expected but truthfully, I should have either pinched them all or left them all unpinched. They would look their best and have the greatest impact while all at the same stage of blooming.

However, I think I prefer the look of more but smaller bloom heads and I like the idea of potentially extending the sedum bloom season further into the fall, so I’m leaning towards pinching all of these in unison next summer.

A final evaluation to come in the next few weeks.

Thanks for following along.

John             

Enjoying the pre-autumn heat

Posted on by Posted in Summer .

This Labor Day weekend has been hot and humid and feels more like mid July than early September. I’ve spent most of the time drenched in sweat (a good thing) and completed some serious gardening chores.

It has been my little celebration of hard “labor”.  

I’m not ready to give up on Summer just yet. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the cool and comfortable Autumn weather in the upcoming weeks/months. For now, I am going to soak in the heat, humidity and even the mosquitoes and horse flies.

Having said all that, it is still obvious that we are in a transition period out in the garden.

The foliage is changing colors on the trees, shrubs and even the perennials. 

Leaves are starting to fall.

The warm season ornamental grasses are blooming or are about to bloom. 

All of which makes for incredible colors, textures and contrasts outdoors. Good times.

Here is a sampling of what is going on in my yard as of this evening:

I know I am boring you to death with all my ornamental grass love, but too bad, here’s some more:

Panicum ‘Rotstrahlbusch’, Boltonia, Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’

Helenium autumnale, Pancium ‘Rotstrahlbusch’, Boltonia, Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’

This is the time of year when many shrubs and perennials put on their best show:

Amsonia tabernaemontana, Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’

Truth be told, like a dope, I recently moved a few Panicum ‘Northwind’ to new locations in this hot and humid weather and they are already showing signs of stress. On the bright side, the color combination on the single grass is pretty cool:

I love walking up my front sidewalk right now with so many different colors intermingling:

One ornamental grass I haven’t full experienced yet is Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame grass) as I purchased three tiny plugs only two years ago. Here’s hoping they continue to rock as they have so far:

Even the Monarda (Bee Balm) have great Fall color already:

My Hawthorn ‘Winter King’ just started to reveal its peeling bark and while not necessarily an Autumn “thang”, the color fits nicely into the overall scheme:

So in conclusion, I still love the hot Summer weather but also enjoy the plant transition to Fall.

Got it? Good.

John