It might be July, but you’ll have to trust me that I accomplished the following tasks while it was still June.
So no deep pruning discussions today, just some simple cutting back to clean up some spent blooms/foliage with the hope that the foliage will bounce back all nice and neat and maybe a second set of blooms in late summer.
First off, Nepeta (Catmint) ‘Walker’s Low’. Here at its peak:
And then looking a little spent:
So, whack, all have been cut back:
More to come in a future post to show you how well they have bounced back:
On to Tradescantia (Spiderwort) ‘Sweet Kate’. Looking good and healthy in the spring:
In bloom and still holding up:
Out come the shears and they’ve been cut to the ground. Didn’t take long to see immediate foliage regrowth:
Finally, Geranium ‘Brookside’ looking good a few weeks ago:
And then looking severely spent today:
Thwack! Now we wait for the inevitable nice foliage mound to come back:
As with previous “Prune in June” posts, I’ll post additional photos as these perennials reinvent themselves over the next few weeks.
Cheers!
John
Thwack! hahaha. You are like a comic book superhero. It’s a bird! It’s a bee! No! It’s PLANT MAN!!!! 🙂
This is encouraging – I was thinking the nepeta is looking rather forlorn, and here you are telling me to cut it back! Great idea!! Thank you!
My favourite photo is the bumblebee in the cranesbill!! Awesome!
Whats the candy floss pink plant against the Nepeta in the second pic.
I can’t think of the name for the life of me and I’m pretty sure its not Astilbe.
Paul
Hey Paul – I think it’s astilbe.
I was just heading out to cut back my spiderwort – glad to see I’m on the right track.
Good work… Everyone has there own way of doing things. I go harder on cutting back the Nepeta (halfway again), but I do much less on the Geranium. I find the geranium leafs out and flowers more quickly if I leave a bunch of the stragglers and structure in place. It looks ugly for a week, but you get a nice big plant back quickly. The Nepeta when I go really hard sends out a nice new bunch of the beautiful blue/gray leave and flowers late.
I did not prune back my Catmint nor my Geranium….probably too late now. Well, that and I want what blooms there are to be here for my Mother in law’s visit this week. 🙂
Poor Kate looks a little bewildered.
My lavender is scraggly – should I prune it?