That was last week @Hostafan1 ... the canna has a lovely flower spike forming now.
I remove the flower spikes on young Hostas as soon as they appear to encourage the plants to bulk up, but after the first couple of years I leave them.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The bees do love them, and I've tried doing both, and have reached a compromise. The ones in the front garden are left to their own devices [mostly]and the ones in the back garden get lopped. I'll give you the verdict later in the year.... Strangely - I have one which never gets eaten [no idea the variety ] and yet, despite the even colder winter keeping slugs/snails at bay a bit more, it's had lots of slug damage this summer. This gardening lark is never easy..... I should also have said that I really don'tlike the wishy washy lilac flowers, so I would only buy white flowered varieties, but these were rescued ones in this garden.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Can I pass on a tip? When you remove the flowers, cut the stem just below foliage height. That way you can't see the cut stem, but in winter, you know exactly where the plant is. The come off easily with a sideways snap in Spring when new growth is about to start.
The first common error that many people make with cannas is deadheading. You should definitely not deadhead a canna. These beauties will flower profusely from July until the frosts as long as you sit on your secateurs. This is because the new flowering shoot comes up within the dead flower and, a month or so later, will produce more flowers. Some flower stems will produce four lots of flowers – unless, of course, you cut them off.
This is the first year that I’ve left the flowers on and I’m not impressed ! Think I’ll remove them as soon as they appear next year to see if the leaves benefit.
Posts
I remove the flower spikes on young Hostas as soon as they appear to encourage the plants to bulk up, but after the first couple of years I leave them.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Strangely - I have one which never gets eaten [no idea the variety ] and yet, despite the even colder winter keeping slugs/snails at bay a bit more, it's had lots of slug damage this summer.
This gardening lark is never easy.....
I should also have said that I really don'tlike the wishy washy lilac flowers, so I would only buy white flowered varieties, but these were rescued ones in this garden.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
When you remove the flowers, cut the stem just below foliage height. That way you can't see the cut stem, but in winter, you know exactly where the plant is.
The come off easily with a sideways snap in Spring when new growth is about to start.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've never got round to getting another one yet.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...