4 plants that need to be pruned now before the end of August for a ‘huge flush of flowers’
With August quickly coming to a close, gardeners are urged to prune a few plants before the month is over if they want to guarantee "a huge flush of flowers" the following season and year.
Pruning is one of the key elements to keeping a garden healthy and attractive no matter the month.
Pruning involves selectively removing parts of plants (branches, buds, spent flowers, etc.) to shape the plant for horticultural and landscape purposes.
From August through December, pruning is primarily about removing dead or damaged branches.
Sarah Raven has shared which gardening tasks should be done this month - including what needs to be pruned before saying goodbye to August.
She stated: “There’s lots of pruning, deadheading and harvesting to be done in August, so if you’re off on your holidays make sure you get some help for your garden or plan ahead.”
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When it comes to growing hardy geraniums, pruning is mostly the name of the game. Once flowering has finished, cutting these back to ground level will encourage a late round of flowers in the latter part of summer and also fresh foliage too.
Throughout the season, it’s crucial to remove spent flowers to encourage new ones. Then, only when the last few flowers have faded should the stem be removed.
Similarly, if there is any leggy growth that’s looking a bit worse for wear, cutting back can help to encourage more shoots. This can lead to denser and bushier growth for more impact.
Sarah advised: “Most long-flowering perennials such as geranium psilostemon and geranium ‘johnson’s blue’ have finished blooming now, so cut them right to the ground and water to encourage them to put up more blooms as soon as possible and generally prevent the garden from looking frazzled and messy.”
Hardy lavender plants are best pruned after they have finished flowering in late August.
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Pruning at this time allows the plant to recover before winter, encourages fuller growth in the next year and “stops it growing leggy”.
Gardeners should be able to tell when it's ready because the flowers will have gone grey. What’s more, there won't be any bees humming around the stalks.
It is typically recommended that the harder lavender plants are pruned, the longer they will last in gardens.
While alstroemerias need little pruning, this is best carried out in August, according to Sarah.
She suggested that as these plants go over from their first flowering, pull (rather than cut) the stems, as you do rhubarb.
The expert explained: “This encourages more growth from below ground to give you a huge second flush of flowers right through the autumn.
“Make sure stakes are in place too, as most alstroemerias are vigorous and will flop about in the autumn gales.”
Prune wisteria after flowering by “removing all the whippy side shoots” from the main branch framework to about five leaves from the main stem.
This method keeps the wisteria in check, stopping it from invading gutters and windows, and promotes the formation of flower buds over green growth.
