The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Category Archives: Pruning

“Prune in June” – Sneezeweed

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .
Quick one today as I continue with my 2nd year of doing the “Prune in June” series.
I cut back one Sneezeweed (Helenium) by 1/2 in mid June last year hoping it would bloom without falling over. Here is that plant a few weeks later:  
After further review, this was due to really poor drainage in this spot more than anything else.
Another Sneezeweed that was cut back by 1/2 bloomed at a much smaller height and did manage to stay upright.
A third plant was left untouched but had sufficient support when it bloomed at close to four feet tall.
Now we fast forward to 2013. 
The Sneeezeweed that was located in poor drainage has been moved to a new spot, chowed down multiple times by a family of rabbits and will not be part of this pruning experiment.
The other two have been cut back by 1/2 a few weeks later than last year:    

Now we kick back and wait.
John 

“Prune in June” – Boltonia

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .

Here in zone 6B New Jersey, Boltonia typically blooms in late August/September and any blooms that time of year cannot be understated. They have a fantastic flower color and can be statuesque if situated in the right spot where they can be supported by other plants.

Unfortunately, I have struggled to get these perennials to NOT topple over once in full bloom:   

Last year, I finally took things into my own hands and cut them back by 1/2 in early June. By the time they started blooming in September, they were about a foot shorter than normal at 2 1/2 feet:   

The results were a marked improvement from prior years but I still think I can do better and keep them even more upright.
So this year, I waited two weeks longer before cutting the three Boltonia back by 1/2:
Now we wait and see if this will make a difference at all.
Have a great weekend.
John  

“Prune in June” is back – Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .

Last June, I started my “Prune in June” series covering perennials I cut or pinched back in June to control the ultimate height and/or look of said perennials. June has come and gone already, but I logged my cutting back of these same perennials to once again closely analyze the results.

Today, we are talking Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ but my guess is this same approach can be applied to other upright Sedum cultivars.

As a recap, here is what a pinched plant looked like by late Summer:

And a photo of an unpinched one:

A pinched plant in October:

And again, an un-pinched plant at that same time:

As you can see, the pinched plant bloomed later (by about 1 – 2 weeks) and provided extended color deeper into the Fall. That works for me.

The number of blooms on each stem was also greater on the pinched back plant which gave the Sedum a “fuller” look. Again, a win.

So for 2013, I pinched back each and every bud on each and every Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ plant. Here is how they looked pre-pinching:

And how they now look post-pinching:

As I did last year, I’ll be tracking the results throughout the Summer/Fall. This is life changing info we all need and I am here to provide just that for you.

You are most welcome.

John

Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ – Final pruning results

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .
Back in June, I pinched back one of my Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ as a pruning experiment. You can read the original post here.
I then updated the results in early September which you can also read here.
I’m here today to state that I will, without a doubt, be pinching back all of my Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ in June next year. The ultimate size of the plant that was cut back didn’t differ much from the unpruned plants, but the blooms on the pruned plant have persisted longer into fall and that is enough to convince me it is worth it. 
Here is a bloom on the pruned Sedum (as of today): 

And a bloom on one of the unpruned plants (as of today):

The difference may be subtle, but I’ll take any extended bloom color whenever I can get it.

Maybe I’ll do a double pinch back next year and analyze the results.

Is it June yet?

John

“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             

“Prune in June” – Boltonia – UPDATE

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .
When last we spoke of my beloved (sarcasm should be applied here) Boltonia, I had cut them back by half in the middle of June. 
As you know or … as you will now know … each and every year these perennials topple over for me once they are in full bloom in late August. And each and every year I forget to cut them back in early summer prior to their blooming in order to manage their size.
But this year was different … and the early results are encouraging (although not all districts are reporting their results yet). 
Here they were in mid-June untouched:      

And then cut back by half:

As of this past weekend, here is how they look upon beginning to bloom:

And as of this evening with even more blooms:

I would say they are at about three feet tall right now and were closer to four to five feet tall at this time in previous years. So far so good in terms of staying upright and they have even survived some major winds and rain the past week or so.

Of course, Boltonias bloom like mad and they are only about half way there in terms of reaching their full blooming potential … but I wanted to bask in the positivity for a while.

Hopefully the good news will roll into September.

John  

“Prune in June” – Helenium (Sneezeweed) UPDATE

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .
Back in the middle of June, I had written about my pruning experiment with my three Sneezeweed plants. I was closely following the advice of the legendary “plantswoman” Tracy DiSabato-Aust by pruning back in June for size control. 
Today, I will give you an update on all three plants as I know you all have been anxiously awaiting the results.
Sneezeweed #1 – cut back by 1/2 in June as seen below:    
And how it looks today:

Blooming has clearly been delayed and so far so good on how it is holding up and not flopping.

Of course, the real test is once the blooms explode in the next few weeks.

**Quick note: Please ignore the ugly legs on this one; they are actually covered by another plant but you cannot tell by this photo. Pinky swear.

Sneezeweed #2 – This one was pruned back in June naturally by some creature one night, so I left it alone as is. Ultimately, it was at the same size as #1 after it was pruned:

And how friggin wonderful it looks today:

This one clearly bloomed earlier than #1 and immediately collapsed under all of it’s bloomage. On the surface, this makes no sense when compared to #1.

But after some detective work, the roots of this one were inundated with water and it was more exposed to the huge rains and winds we’ve had the past few weeks.

This one will be relocated in the near future.

Sneezeweed #3 – This one was left untouched back in June with the thought being it would be sufficiently supported by its neighboring plants:  

So far so good, as the blooms have appeared and it is still standing at attention:

As the blooms continue to multiply we’ll see if it still remains upright. Fingers are double crossed.

I’ll hold off on the final analysis for a few more weeks as this situation is still fluid.

Until then …

“Prune in June” – Cleaning up – UPDATE

Posted on by Posted in Pruning .
During the last week of June, I severely cut back three groups of perennials as a means to “clean them up”, as all three had bloomed their asses off and were now looking tired and spent. 
I knew they would bounce back rather quickly with nice clean foliage and some new blooms and I’m here today to show you that they came through with flying colors.
#1 – Tradescantia (Spiderwort) ‘Sweet Kate’:
After the the big cut back:      
And how they looked about two weeks later:

And five weeks later … :

… with some periodic re-bloom to boot:

#2 – Geranium ‘Brookside’:

The day of their haircut:

And as of this evening:

#3 – Nepeta (Catmint) ‘Walker’s Low’:

Sheared back:

And now sporting cleaner foliage and some blooms (not to mention the bees are back in droves):

While cutting back your perennials seems like a frightening proposition at first, I would actually be more frightened to leave them untouched. Trust me, it gets ugly.

If you chop them back (assuming you did your research and you know which ones are “choppable”), in two to three weeks time they will look better than they did right before they were snipped.

Remember, “Just prune it”.

John

“Prune in June” – another Joe Pye Weed update

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .
When we last discussed my experimental pruning of Joey Pye (experimental in that I’m strictly following the advice of Tracy DiSabato-Aust), there were new bud breaks just emerging where I had previously pinched back the new growth.
It has been three weeks since that update and luckily for you fine reader, I’ve got another one for you today. 
First off, the Eupatorium (aka Joe Pye Weed) is in full bloom right now:    

And looking damn good along side Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’:

But enough of the niceties, this is about pruning and science and crap.

As a recap, here is the new growth prior to it being pinched back in early June:

And then pinched:

And then the new buds breaking soon after:

And the blooms from those buds, as of today:

As you can see in the photo below, the pinched areas in the front, where the blooms are just now appearing, provide the planting with a layered look that I really dig:  

You can appreciate the layered look even more from this side view: 

This mass of Joe Pye Weed has always looked good and performed beautifully in the past, but now with this new layered look (seen best from the most common vantage point) I am loving it even more.

I’ll have some additional updates on my other pruned victims plants in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for them.

This stuff is fun, yo.

John  

“Prune in June’ – Joe Pye Weed – update

Posted on by Posted in How-to, Perennials, Pruning .

Couldn’t resist a quick update on my original post on pruning Joe Pye Weed.

When I pinched the growing tips back, I had mentioned that Tracy Disabato-Aust had stated that it would result in “5 breaks emerging from the stem” and guess what? Here they are:

The non pinched stems are just about ready to bloom so more to come on this front in an upcoming post.

Good times.

John