joene's garden » peony

Keep gardens neat looking with deadheading

joenesgarden — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:55:47 +0000

As a garden coach and personal gardener most of my springtime gardening work is done in clients' gardens. Gardening at home happens in tidbits of time. Fortunately, I only need tidbits of time to keep up with deadheading. Many clients and gardening friends have questions about deadheading – gardeners' term for removing of spent flowers. But careful attention to how a perennial flowers offers clues to how to deadhead. You don't want to cut down all green growth since perennials use the greenery to produce energy to survive. But unless you plan to harvest seeds from a specific perennial, allowing it to go to seed is simply taxing the plant's energy for no good gardening reason. So I expend a fair portion of my home gardening time removing spent blossoms. Beside ensuring perennials don't waste good energy on seed production, deadheading keeps the gardens looking fresh and allows currently blooming flowers to take center stage.

When spent flowers and stalks are removed, the spikey foliage of iris continues to add interest to gardens.

The Siberian iris flower on the lower right can stay for a day but cut spent flower stalks just above a leaf.

Bearded iris stay looking much neater when spent blossoms are carefully snapped or sliced off.

The blossom on the right will attract all the attention once the spent blossoms are removed. After all blooms have passed, cut the flower stalk off just above a leaf.

Chive blossoms have mostly faded. Pull or snap spent flowers from their stalk. I remove flower stalks later in the season once they turn brown when hey are much easier to pull free.

With no seeds to form, tired looking chive clumps will rejuvenate with new green growth and maybe a few new blossoms later in the season.

Scabiosa will keep flowering until the high heat of mid-summer as long as spent flowers, like those at left center and upper right, are removed.

After a brief period of no blooms, scabiosa will rebloom as cooler late-summer weather prevails.

Peony foliage provides a nice touch of backdrop greenery when spent flowers have been cut just above a leaf node.

Browned flower petals are depressing. The lower right flower can stay for a day or so. The rest must go.

I love the fact that my Oriental poppy gave me three blooms this year – I started the plant from seed a few years back.

I also love the look of the poppy seed pod.

But I'll soon chop it off to allow the plants to put more energy into spreading and hopefully setting even more blossoms next year.

With so little time to tinker in my own gardens, I've taken to leaving a pail at the ready in an inconspicuous spot near a back door. Seeing the pail reminds me to grab a knife, scissors, or pruning shears … and a few minutes each day … to deadhead spent flowers. Do I mind this task? Not at all. It's a great excuse to wander from plant to plant, to listen to birds sing and feel the breezes blow. I walk away with a feeling of accomplishment, even if I've only tended a few plants, and the gardens look better for the attention.

Categories: Gardening, Techniques.
Tags: chives, deadheading, gardening in Connecticut, iris, oriental poppy, peony, scabiosa.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

June Blooms

joenesgarden — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:00:00 +0000

Cool days and nights and overcast skies marked the first half of June in south central Connecticut. Nearly daily rain of some amount interspersed with heavy downpours and strong thunderstorms kept soils consistently wet. Pansies, loving the cool temperatures, still bloom. Ferns and mosses thrive in the nearly constant moisture. The peonies were glorious, but short-lived – just as the biggest blossoms opened wide rains pelted them down. The last of my peony blossoms will go by this week, but later blooming iris are coming on strong along with many other happy blossoms to show on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, June 2010.

A trio of scabiosa columbaria 'Butterfly Blue'

Trandescantia of unknown variety … traveled with me for years from house to house.

Dianthus deltoides, or Maiden Pinks 'Arctic Fire'

An ever lovely hosta … I don't recall hosta blooming this early before.

Louisiana iris 'Black Gamecock'

Peony hybrid 'Nancy Nora' dancing with Stachys (Lamb's Ear).

Allium 'Hair' shows off a unique personality.

Hydrangea Endless Summer flirting with nearby astilbe.

Coral bells … another long time plant companion.

A sea of lavenders. Can one ever have too many lavenders?

Iris ensata – unknown variety with huge blossoms. I cannot have too many iris.

The dainty shrub rose Mystic Meidiland.

Rose campion always has a mind of its own.

Penstemon digitalis.

And I fell for the new supertunia 'Pretty Much Picasso' – the name alone is enough to attract attention, but I could not resist the color combination of these flowers.

Last June my peonies were in full glory. This year everything seems to be blooming about 2 weeks earlier compared to last. I also had poppies blooming in 2009. This year the greens are there but, sadly, no buds popped up.

Be sure to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens – the originator of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - to see what she has popping from her soils and what other garden bloggers - from all corners of the U.S. and beyond – have to show off on this monthly bloomin' blossom bash.

Categories: Bloom Day, Gardening, Perennials & Annuals.
Tags: Allium "Hair", astilbe, coral bells, Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosta, hydrangea, iris, lavender, penstemon, peony, pinks, Pretty Much Picasso petunias, rose campion, scabiosa, shrub rose, trandescantia.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz

June Bloom Day

joenesgarden — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:43:57 +0000

It's been chilly, rainy, and cloudy, but flowers brighten the days.

peony

shrub rose

rugosa rose

poppy

Also blooming are salvia silvestris, Sweet William, foxglove, geranuim sanguineum, rose campion, lobelia, nasturtium, campanual cup and saucer, sedum, coral bells, many varieties of pinks, trandescantia, an orangy-red nasturtium I started from seeds that are supposed to be creamy yellow, and an oriental poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' started from seed in 2004 and blooming for the first time this year. Also blooming: penstemon, snow-in-summer, wild yarrow, mountain laurel (Connecticut's state flower), and my last dark purple bearded iris. I have photos of most, but for some reason photo uploads are touchy today. Happy bloom day everyone.

Categories: Bloom Day, Gardening, Perennials & Annuals.
Tags: Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, oriental poppy, peony, rugosa rose, shrub rose.

Share this post:
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google Bookmarks
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Technorati Favorites
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz