I was looking at my garden the other day and thought to myself "My garden is on its decline toward fall." Then I read an article and it talked about how we have about 10 more weeks until we get a frost and that there is lots of gardening time left. After reading this, my gardening energy renewed! I took a second look at my garden and thought "There are still so many flowers blooming and many I can dead head to produce a second blooming." So, this morning, I was out in my garden cutting back my Purple Rain salvia, which grows to jungle proportions and produces beautiful smokey purple blooms on spikes that engulf my sidewalk. I felt much better after cutting those back (2 garbage bags full! Sadly, my yard is too small for a compost bin...). Some roses and coreoposis are next in line for a mid summer cutting as is my cat mint, which has already sent up a mass of new blooms. Every year at this time it's a bit of struggle as a gardener because the gorgeous May and June blooms have come and gone and I am challenged to find more plants that bloom later in the year. So, if you too are feeling like the gardening season is on its way out, take a second look and see what you can deadhead and spruce up to encourage a second set of blooms!
I live in Western New York, and I commented on a post yesterday about stopping the deadheading and trimming at my home when August hits. I agree that we have plenty of bloom time left. My Iceberg roses will attest to that, often having cutable blooms left a week before Christmas, but me, the gardener is the one that gets pooped out first. I know if I were twenty again, my thoughts on this would change. Kudos to you for rethinking extending your bloom time with maintenance, your garden will reward you. I am going to post images of my garden on my blog later this week, then compare to earlier in the year versions. So many bloggers are extending bloom time and showing images. As a WNY'er, I like to let nature take it's course in case we have another October surprise of ice or snow, that way no tender growth gets killed off.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna - Two Fountain Delphiniums have re-bloomed this week already. I want to get every last flower out of my garden!
ReplyDelete