Perennial Plants

Perennial plants in the boarder is still one of the most popular features in many developed gardens in the British Isles.

Perennial plants have gained popularity, over the annual bedding plants, because of their low maintenance and not needing to be re-planted every year.

Perennial plants are grown from seed, cuttings and splits and cover a large number of species, many now being introduced from other countries such as Australia , New Zealand , Japan and China.

Planting perennial plants:

Dig the hole larger and deeper than the root ball of the perennial, loosen the bottom of the hole with a trowel, then, after gently loosening the roots in the root ball, fill the soil in around the plant and gently firm.

If you do not have access to well rotted manure, then peat or bark will do the job nicely.
Fortunately, the vast majority of perennials that are more widely grown are very accommodating. They will thrive in most types of soil although characteristics such as, vigor and rate of growth will vary considerably from variety to variety, and also from different types of soil.

You must never coddle hardy perennial plants, as they are on the whole very hardy and resent being grown soft.
The taller varieties of perennials will need staking and tying, if you want to get the best effect from them, also watch out for creeping weeds such as bindweed, which, if left unchecked will chock your plants.
In the late autumn when the perennials have finished flowering, most will need to be cut down to ground level with the exception of as few varieties, e.g. Penstemons must not be cut down until they start to show new shoots in the spring, then you should cut them down to ground level to allow the new shoots to come up from the crown off the plant.
The best thing is to consult any good gardening book, and this should tell you the varieties to cut and those not to cut down.

Why cut back perennial flowers?

Cutting back flowering hardy perennials will help to improve and prolong flowering and the shape of a plant.
Flowering perennials will make more flowers, better quality blooms or bushier plants after being trimmed to shape, this also promotes more and larger flowers.

Other ways to promote better flowering:

Most flowers bloom and set seed which is a natural climax to the annual growth cycle. By deadheading flowers as they fade not only makes the plant look tidy, but also interrupts the plants sequence and stimulates new flowers to appear.
Deadhead fading flowers of herbaceous perennials regularly as this will stimulate new flowers and prevent plants from self-seeding.
Most hardy perennials should have their dead flower stalks cut back to the nearest bud at the base of the flowering stem as soon as the flowers begin to fade. By using this technique it also prevents unwanted self-seeding. You can either use your thumb and forefinger, garden cutters or secateurs
Some hardy perennials concentrate their energy into a single tip bud. If you remove this tip bud then the buds lower down will produce side shoots. This is called stopping, pinching or tip pruning and makes bushier growth.
Some plants will only need pinching once, other perennials may need pinching a few times by taking out the initial bud and then pinch out the resulting side growths.
By chopping back hardy perennials in the late-spring this will make bushier plants that will flower later in the season very often more prolifically. This pinching back is best carried out in late May early June, and is done by cutting or pinch back the plants by half their length.
You will need to watch out for Aphids, Caterpillars and the like during the summer months.

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