Time to Prune Perennials

What will happen is that the balloon flower will bloom later than normal - two to three weeks later if it is pruned in early June. How much later it will be now will remain to be seen. It may delay the bloom past the frost date. Sometimes, delaying bloom is a technique that we can use to our advantage. If you have several clumps of the same plant in different locations, you could use pruning to cause the clumps to flower at different times. Leave one clump unpruned, prune another and wait a week or so to prune the third. This should produce bloom at three different intervals. You could also prune one plant so it would flower with a later-blooming companion. You might also use this technique to keep one perennial from blooming at the same time as a neighbor whose color clashes.

CAUTION!!! Over the years I have had customers ask to be instructed in using this technique to synchronize bloom for an outdoor event, usually a wedding. Each growing season is different and weather variables make it almost impossible to hit a target date. So don't try it unless you can still be happy if it does not work.

Another use of summer pruning is to shape a mass planting and cover "bare knees". If you cut back the outer plants of a mass planting, they will flower at a lower height that can face down the group and blend it gracefully into its surroundings. Plants that tend to get bare lower stalks when they flower (like Monarda) should have a few stems of the only plant, or the outer ones of a mass planting pruned now. The new growth will fill out and hide the taller stems of plants behind.

Because my plant collection is limited by my space, I haven't personally tried summer pruning on lots of things, so I can't give you lists, but there is a book, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques, by Tracy DiSabato-Aust that can and does. I have mentioned this book here before and it is still one of my favorites.

So grab your tools and earn your Scissorhands title this week.

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