Stand Up
Plants that flop need help. Chrysanthemums, peonies, artemisias, some sedums, baptisias -- all tend to lie down on the job. The floppers share an architecture; they have a lot of stems that rise from a small footprint. The inner stems stand up straight, the outer stems lean.
As the stems grow, they gain weight. Whey they add flowers, they sag, especially the outer stems. Sometimes all the stems flop and the plant looks like a deflated balloon.
This is especially disappointing with a showy peony, the kind with double flowers (extra petals). In a big rain, the flowers catch enough water to drag the stems into a curve. The flowers rest on the ground instead of rising high and showing off. You can shake the water out of the flowers but the stems won’t straighten up.
There are remedies. For peonies, you install a sort of hoop on stilts and guide the stems into the hoop, which holds them upright. Baptisias need a hoop too, especially if the plant is not in full sun. Or you can gather the stems with a circle of string.
For mums you pinch off the ends of the stems when they are still young and again when they have doubled in length. This keeps the stems short and sturdy. As a bonus it also prompts more branching and therefore more flowers.
For artemisias like ‘Silver Mound’ that grow in the shape of a bun, the remedy is to shear the plant when it signals the start of flowering (the tip of each stem grows a cluster of flower buds). Last spring I missed the moment and the plants ended up sprawled on the ground with the stems looking like the spokes of a wheel and the leaves at the ends of the stems looking like a fuzzy tire. Not as lovely as a silver mound covered with tiny white flowers.
This year I sheared the artemisia plants about mid-spring. No signs of flopping so far. I will photograph the results when the plants bloom.
- Categories // : Garden Stories, July 2010
Comments (2)
I forgot to cut my mums this year. they are long, and rambling. I know what you mean. you made some great points in this article, which really amount to maintenance.