Shearing Perennials

[Ralph D.]

Hello again,

I am in SW PAzone 5b or 6ish and hate to see the larger beds fading as they are now. Will shearing Monarda near the top force a fall bloom? Will it hurt them if I try?

How about Coneflowers?

Rudbeckia?

[madgardener]

[Frogleg]

Don't know Monarda, but both Echinacea and Rudbeckia will produce more blooms if the old ones are removed. And of course the plants aren't harmed by a haircut.

[Ralph D.]

Thanks.

I generally do leave almost everything stand until Spring for several reasons, but not having spent 1/10th the time I normally do out there this year, I am really hating to see things fade. We got to sit out there the other evening for one of the first times all year (I normally sit there reading the evening paper to a candle watching the sun set over the farm) and saw that a few of the monarda in one of the red beds of them had a few new blooms where I had deadheaded before spraying the Fungonil to save them a while back. We were surprised to when we got buzzed by a hummer that was getting desperate enough to not be scared off by our presence.

I don't know why, but that bird was about as welcome a sight as the first one we ever saw way back when. He floated all around the garden looking over the Blue Mists, the Mallows, the Asters and such... but basically only cared to dine on the few monarda and on the Strata in the other corner (odd, as we've never seen them interested in any of the few annuals, but never seen such prolific bloom from our Strata as this cool wet year brought). We watched him bobbing around taking a taste and up to take a look at us and down for a taste again over and over for about 10 minutes (we're rural and they're not accustomed to people like they are in some gardens and usually flee at loud breathing even).

When we were walking down to the garden we saw the usual 50 or 75 birds flocking away from atop all our Coneflowers (two large beds of them) and Rudbeckia and, as much as we often enjoy seeing them partaking of that gourmet feast... we just didn't want to see it this year. I don't know why we're getting such late odd blooms other than the coolness of the year, but just about everything out there is getting a few and I wondered if I could fool Mother Nature this year and shear things down a bit for more blooms.

Maybe I'll try it once, just for the heck of it, although, in the middle of winter I'll miss looking out there and seeing all those brown heads out there bobbing around above the fence as the garden thumbs it's nose at winter and all that snow, too.

[Ralph D.]

Thanks... I might try it this year...