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Perennial Tips for Summer - Page 2

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Jun 18, 1999

Divide rockery perennials as they finish blooming. You can dig up the entire plant and split it up or take rooted portions away from the parent. Replant divisions in a good spot and keep them well-watered.

Irises
As soon as they have finished blooming, irises can be lifted and divided. Lift, wash and separate 3 to 4 year-old clups bu cutting with a sharp knife. Discard any spongy rhizomes, and allow the cut ends of healthy rhizomes to heal for one day before replanting. Cut the tops off the leaves to compensate for this root loss. Set the tops of the rhizomes just below the soil surface; point the end with leaves in the direction you would like them to grow.

Heather should be cut back as soon as it's finished blooming. Spring-blooming heathers should be ready for cutting back now. Giving your heather this annual haircut will make for a bushier more flowery plant.

Deadheading
Keep cutting off the spent flowers on your perennials and you will likely be rewarded with more. Delphiniums, Poppies, Lupines and Lavender are just a few that respond very well to dead heading.

Seeds
In most cases, summer isn't a great time to start seeds, but it's a really good time to collect them. Collect seeds after the dew has lifted on the day. Tall flowers such as foxgloves can be cut down and shaken into a bag to get all the seeds out. Store seeds in paper bags at first, transferring them to sealed envelopes after the pods and chaff have dried completely.

Bugs
Check plants for bugs regularly and get to know what they look like as they develop. If the plant has a problem it will show you in it's appearance. Curled leaves, pale growth, sticky residues and webbing are often signs that a pest of some kind is bugging the plant, and closer inspection may reveal it's source.

Insects are not always the source of a problem. There are beneficial insects as well as pests. Learn how to identify the most common ones using the following links, and if you don't know what your bug is, drop us a line, leaving your rough location and a good description of the insect and/or what it is doing to your plants.

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