Love Your Perennials
To keep your perennial garden(s) happy and healthy takes a little work throughout the growing season, but the work is not too taxing. Truth be told, most of us who plant perennials really enjoy the little effort that is required to maintain their beauty, after all, it is personally rewarding to be outside in our garden surrounded by beautiful plants in the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains! The main thing is to simply pay attention to what’s happening in the garden and take care of any issues that might crop up as soon as you notice them. Plus, there is the usual tasks of watering, mulching, and weeding to do, but if you are paying attention, these tasks don’t have to take a lot of time.
Attend to Your Garden
Periodically inspect your perennial garden(s) for signs of insect infestation, disease, or rodent problems. As soon as you finding something amiss, address it immediately before the problem gets worse. If in doubt, drop by and see us and we’ll offer you our expert advice on how to best address the problem.
Water
Watering, of course, is essential to keeping our perennials healthy and happy. We recommend installing a drip system to water your perennials. That way, you don’t have to worry about getting out into the garden and watering by hand. Just set your timer to when, how often, and how much water to deliver, and that’s it! Remember, that even drought-tolerant perennials need regular watering to become established.
Fertilize
Fertilizing perennials encourages strong root development as well as the production of lots of blooms. Because not all perennials have the same nutrient needs, though, it is important for you to learn which fertilizers work best for which perennials. You might consider testing your soil to determine which perennials might grow best in it or to determine what amendment might best benefit the perennials you wish to grow. However, a safe, general guideline is to fertilize perennials twice a year—once in the spring to stimulate root and bloom development and again in the early fall to encourage further root development.
Mulch and Weed
Mulching helps to retain moisture, keeps soil temperatures cooler in summertime, and reduces weed growth. Apply about 2-4 inches of mulch in your perennial garden, making sure to keep the mulch from directly contacting plant stems. Weed as soon as weeds appear. Reapply mulch in the late fall as you prepare your perennial garden for winter.
Divide
When you see that your perennials have outgrown their space or are beginning to encroach other perennials, it is time to thin them a bit by dividing them. Dividing is best accomplished in the spring or early summer or early fall, long before the first frost. Regardless of when you divide, thoroughly wet the perennial(s) you wish divide to make the digging a bit easier for you. Once removed, you can divide the plant by hand, or if that doesn’t work, use a garden trowel or knife to separate the plants roots into as many smaller sections as you wish. Shake the excess soil from the roots to determine where to divide. When replanting, make sure to water the plants regularly—do not let the roots dry out.
Deadhead
Deadheading refers to the removal of spent blooms. Deadheading is important because it (a) removes unsightly spent blooms from your plants and (b) enhances the ability of reblooming plants to grow new flowers. Deadheading can be accomplished using either sharp pruners or by pinching off the spent blooms with your fingers.
Winter Care
Getting your perennial garden(s) ready for winter is pretty darn easy. Just remember C-M-W.
C = Cutback each plant to about 4 inches above the ground in the late fall or you can also cut back in the early spring. Leaving some above ground stalks will retain snow and moisture throughout the winter.
M = Mulch your garden with 4-6 inches of mulch materials to retain moisture and insulate your plants’ root systems a bit.
W = Water your garden, if the ground is not frozen, every 4 weeks or so to keep the plants’ root systems’ moist.
Come See Us!
Please drop by and see us at Brady’s West if you have any questions at all about how to take care of your perennials or if you have any questions about their health. Our friendly and professional staff will be more than happy to spend time with you discussing any issues you may have about any and all aspects of your perennial garden, or for that matter, anything else you are concerned about with your landscape!