With so much to be done in the perennial garden this time of year — deadheading, weeding, watering, more weeding — it’s hard to think ahead to September and the quieter perennials that ease us into winter. But a bit of effort now will reward you with a denser, more robust crop of autumn bloomers.
I’m probably not the only gardener who quails at the thought of cutting back plants early in the season. I am afraid I will kill the entire plant. And it feels counterproductive to cut off the healthy new growth I’ve been nurturing so carefully through the spring.
But I have learned over the past few years that cutting back is an invaluable gardening technique. It’s one of those delayed-gratification tasks that gardeners come to appreciate as they anticipate each season’s distinctive pleasures.
The art of judicious cutting is discussed in helpful detail in my favorite how-to gardening book, “The Well-Tended Perennial Garden” by Tracy DiSabato-Aust. If you’re looking for a guide to plant-by- plant, stem-by-stem, month-by-month perennial care, you should get your hands on this book. (And don’t be put off by the glamorous author photograph. DiSabato-Aust may look like she’s ready for a game of beach volleyball, but she really knows her stuff.)
Here are some of her suggestions, loosely paraphrased, for summer cutting that will pay off come autumn.
Late bloomers such as asters tend to get leggy and require staking to keep them from flopping from the center. By cutting them back with shears in mid-June, when they are between 12 and 20 inches tall, you will have denser, bushier plants that will require less, if any, staking.
DiSabato-Aust recommends cutting by one half, or up to two-thirds, depending on the size of the plant and its place in the garden. The amount of cutting also depends on factors such as overly rich soil, which tends to encourage leggy growth. Less than adequate sun also encourages legginess.
You also can take the opportunity to shape plants like asters that tend to grow in formless masses. By cutting the outer stems shorter than the inner stems, you can create a pleasantly mounded plant.
If your garden is in a windblown area, you may need to stake anyway. But your plants will have a better growth habit if you give nature a helping hand.
Cutting back also allows you to stagger or delay bloom times. If you want a certain plant to flower at a certain time to complement other plants, or for a specific event such as a wedding, cutting will delay flowering for a week or two, depending on how deeply you cut. By staggering bloom times, you also prolong the plant’s growing season.
Sedum ‘autumn joy’ and chrysanthemums are other fall floppers that benefit from an early haircut. DiSabato-Aust notes that these plants are typically pinched (taking off the top bud and first set of leaves) rather than cut back, but she says she’s had good success with shearing. And it’s a lot less time-consuming than pinching, a plus for weekend warriors.
One of the things I love about DiSabato-Aust’s book is that she explains how she hasexperimented with various plants, techniques and timing over the years. She allows for many approaches and encourages readers to do their own experimenting and see what works.
This is welcome advice. Plants are more forgiving than we give them credit for. The occasional bad haircut always grows back.
Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge is offering a fun, hands-on workshop on the art of cutting paper to make small, beautiful images using farming and gardening imagery from the 19th-century as inspiration. Students will create a multitude of Scherenschniite, in the Pennsylvania German style.
The instructor, artist Pamela Dalton, also will share paper cutting from a variety of other cultural and historic periods.
Dalton’s Scherenschnitte have delighted collectors worldwide for almost 25 years. Her work is created in the tradition of early-American paper cutting made popular by the Pennsylvania Dutch and is influenced by popular historical themes: patriotism, biblical and religious motifs, and scenes from rural life. Each piece is sketched freehand and then cut by hand, so no two are exactly alike. Each work is cut from a single piece of paper.
The class will take place in BBG’s Education Center July 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring a bag lunch. These classes fill up fast.
For more information and to register, go to www.berkshirebotanical.org.
Closer to home, the Smith College Botanic Garden has reinstalled a fascinating 2005 exhibit titled “Plant Adaptation Up Close: A Biological and Artistic Interpretation.”
The exhibit, which has been out on tour at museums throughout the country, examines the way plants have evolved to meet challenges of the Earth’s diverse environments. These include the ability to cling to rock cliffs and even to devour other plants. Biological explanations and artistic photography by Joan Wiener bring to life the resourcefulness and beauty of the plant kingdom.
This will remain on display at the Church Exhibition Gallery in the Lyman Plant House through March.
The farmers markets in Amherst and Northampton are bursting at the seams with fresh, delicious local products. There are organic vegetables and fruits, grass-fed meats, artisanal cheeses, bread and pastries, mushrooms, maple goodies, herbs and plants, and much more.
The Amherst market is in the center of the Town Common on Saturdays, open from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The Northampton market, open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Gothic Street, also runs a Tuesday market next to the downtown parking garage. It’s open 1:30 to 6:30 p.m.
We are blessed to have these wonderful markets. Get out there and support our dedicated farmers.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com