Care of a Perennial
Garden
Keep your Perennials happy and your garden healthy
Basic upkeep and care of your perennials will promote healthiness
and produce better results. Follow these easy steps and you'll
see stunning results in your garden.
Irrigation: xeriscaping
Hand-watering with a hose can eat up a lot of your time and
can waste a lot of water, as can sprinklers. If you still
prefer over-head watering, however, water your plants early
in the day. Soaker and drip irrigation hoses will save you
time and will conserve water. Because these irrigation systems
water at soil level, they also prevent leaves from getting
wet, which can lead to disease.
Consider xeriscaping, using drought-tolerant
perennials like sedums, penstemons and yucca
to achieve a desert look with a desert like need for watering;
not much. Asters and Epimedium (among others)
will work for those who don’t want to go southwestern
with the look of the border. Watering is becoming a big issue
for many areas, and it’s no fun to plant a garden and
then have someone in your town government say you can’t
water it. Xeriscaping could be the answer for your
garden (not NO water, but low water).
Dead-heading of Perennials
Dead-heading (removing spent flowers) will
promote more blooms and will enhance the strength and health
of your perennials. Deadheading before a plant goes to seed
will also prevent invasive perennials from overtaking less
aggressive plants. Additionally, most perennials are not very
attractive when in seed. The exceptions to the deadheading
rule are in perennials that have ornamental seed heads, which
are attractive in their own right, or if you wish to collect
seeds for future propagation. That said I also leave up plants
for winter interest, (grasses, sedums…) and
for habitat feeding (rudbeckia, echinacea…).
Just a little homework will help you decide who gets chopped
and who stays…
Mulching
Mulching is the process of covering soil around your
perennials with materials such as compost or pine needles.
During warm weather, mulching will help to keep the soil cool
and prevent loss of moisture. Mulching also deters weeds,
and the mulch itself can add nutrients to the soil. Winter
mulching should be considered in colder climates. After the
ground has frozen, mulch with dried leaves or straw to protect
the plant’s roots from severe weather. Remove the winter
mulch gradually in the early spring to allow the plants to
slowly grow accustomed to the sunshine and warm weather.
Weeding
Nobody likes weeding… I certainly don’t. But weeds
will steal precious nutrients, sunshine and water away from
your perennials if they are not diligently removed. Weeding
should be done on a continual basis so that the weeds don’t
have a chance to go to seed and turn a small nuisance into
a big problem. Hand-weeding is still the most effective way
to remove weeds. If weeding a large flower bed, you can use
a hoe, but take care not to damage the roots of the plants
around them. To make this chore a little more pleasant, I
recommend investing in a gardener’s kneeling
pad
as well as a sturdy pair of gardening
gloves.
Staking and Pinching
Tall perennials will look and fare better if they
are staked or tied up to avoid slumping over on the ground.
Peonies, for example, often bend over under the weight
of their large blooms. Using a support, such as a wire peony
hoop, will keep your peony upright and looking lovely. Place
the hoop on the peony when the plant is young and raise it
as the peony grows.
Tall-stemmed flowers can easily be tied to bamboo stakes
in order to keep them off the ground. If you don’t want
to use stakes, try pinching plants in the late spring. Pinching
plants along the stem while they are growing will promote
bushy growth, rather than upward growth, so that the plant
will be less likely to need a stake when it blooms.
Division
Division entails splitting plants apart into smaller plants.
Division not only maintains the health of your perennial garden
through the years, but it also is an easy way to propagate
your plants. Perennials such as iris or hemerocallis
(daylily) will show a noted decrease in blooms over
the years if they are not divided. In general, dividing should
be done every two to four years.
It is best to dig the plant up in order to divide it, although
it is possible to use a spade to divide the plant without
removing it from the ground. Some plants like ornamental
grasses or irises may require knives, machetes,
or even hatchets to get the job done, but it is worth it.
Some things to keep in mind, the more plants you make, the
less show next year. Sure you now have six irises from that
one in the ground, but they’re all so small it’ll
be two years before you see a flower again. Splitting in half
gives you two decent plants, but they’ll both need dividing
next year! Figure out how often you want to do this job and
find your happy medium. Plants should generally be divided
in the fall, although fall-blooming flowers should be divided
in the early spring. The divisions make lovely gifts from
your garden to friends and family, who will think of you every
time they see that plant. Not bad for free…
With some basic upkeep and care, your perennials will produce
beautiful blooms and keep your garden looking beautiful over
many seasons and many years.
Torchy Hibiscus
Nature Hills Nursery The Hibiscus 'Torchy', is one
of the darkest red flowering varieties in the Fleming series.
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Jackmanii Clematis
Nature Hills Nursery The Clematis ‘Jackman’, Clematis
x jackmanii, is the best blooming Clematis in its family.
Available
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Kims Knee High Coneflower
Nature Hills Nursery
The Echinacea ‘Kim's Knee High’,
Echinacea purpurea, also known as Coneflower, is an easy to grow
flower that produces beautiful blooms.
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it today!
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Plum Pudding Coral Bells
Nature Hills Nursery The Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, Heuchera x ‘Plum
Pudding’,
also known as a Coral Bell and Alumroot...
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Now for your garden!
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Amethyst Myst Coral Bells
Nature Hills Nursery The Heuchera ‘Amethyst Myst’, Heuchera x ‘Amethyst
Myst’, also known as a Coral Bell and Alumroot, has unique, deep purple
foilage...
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Fantasia Hibiscus
Nature Hills Nursery The
Hibiscus 'Fantasia' is one of the most ruffled Hibiscus in its
family.
Browse
this and Other Perennials
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