Five Secrets of the Professionals
Deadheading consists of picking off dead or wilted flowers. Taking off the flowers before the plant can set seeds encourages reblooming. The whole point of a plant’s life is to reproduce itself. Deadheading frustrates this and the plant will keep trying to make seeds by making flowers first.
I know this sounds like a lot of fussy work, but if you do it regularly, even daily, it really isn’t too bad. If you have a habit of walking through your garden at the end of the workday as I do, add deadheading to your stroll. It’s a good way to take time and literally stop and smell the roses, while decapitating dead ones!
#4 Hygiene
The key to plant health is good hygiene. Pick off dead or diseased leaves, clear up the ground underneath the plant, and you’ve knocked out the majority of plant diseases.
Pruning off dead and broken branches removes a potential entry point for insects and disease. Limbs should be taken off flush where they meet the trunk. Not only does this look better, but the plant is pre-programmed to heal itself if pruned at this point. As one of my Master Gardener instructors hammered into us, no stubs!
#5 Location
To paraphrase an old saying another secret to planting success is location, location, location. Placing a plant that thrives in shade in a sunny spot will leave the poor thing gasping like Scarlet O'Hara with heat stroke. Giving a desert plant wet feet might make it rot itself to death. Take the time to find out the cultural needs of your nursery stock and perennials and make sure you provide those conditions. Often the plant tag will give you this information. If not, ask the experts at your local garden center what location is best for that plant.
Pretty simple, huh? Most of you probably thought, pretty obvious too. Like children, plants need the right care and environment to grow up big and strong. We get busy and sometimes forget the obvious needs of our plants. I agree, it is time-consuming to provide this level of care, but the results are well worth it.
From my bookshelf: American Horticultural Society Great Plant Guide, printed by DK Books, http://www.dk.com . This is one mighty midget of a book, with over 500 pages of pictures and descriptions of plants ranging from grasses to annuals to flowering trees. Sit down in an evening with this book and have a
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