They are beautiful Lyn! I love all the slightly different shades of pink. Is that a special kind of fuscia? The plants look bigger and more floppy in a good way, than ones I usually see. And what variety are those little daisies, are they pink too? I'm inspired to make some pink variety pots like yours
That's very helpful on the nemesias. I didn't know it's good to trim with a few flowers still on! I think I'll leave them if I'm wanting seeds, but once I've got enough seeds then I would trim like that (cutting the stem off at the base). Looking at my photo, would you be cutting all those stems off now (if not saving for seeds) if it was your plant, as they all seem to have only a couple of flowers on?
So by cutting off the old stems like that, are you encouraging the plant to put it's energy into the flowers and making new stems?
And could I ask if you leave those pots in your photo out over winter? Sorry for so many questions ...
The little daisies are Erigeron karvinskianus they just pop up everywhere by self seeding, they love dry poor soil so have done especially well this summer. The fuchsias, I don’t know the names, I just break of bits and take cutting and pop them in any spaces. They do indeed stay out there all all winter and the reason they are all different shades of pink is because I collected the seeds from others and they don’t come true, so most of them turn out pink, I don’t mind that though, I love the plants whatever colour. Some of them are from a trailing variety.
You’re exactly right about cutting off the stems once the flowers have almost finished.
Have you got some seed pods yet, Not all Nemesias do get seeds, ( hope yours does) but yes, cut them down, they may get some more flowers this year, they may not, it’s getting late now. But you’ll know what to do next year and with some trimming will get them to flower all year through.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
@Pink678 If you have snails and slugs left in the garden, you might be lucky as I am: I leave everything as it is in Autumn (I just took out the tomatoes, marrow and salads). That give all animals something to eat, to sleep or to hibernate. Over the winter, slugs and snails eat everything that dies back naturally. I only had to cut back Rudbeckia, Salvia, and Echinacea, which was a job done in 10 minutes.
That’s why I say, if someone wants to have a low maintenance garden, forget lawn, too much hassle. Have those easy perennials like the above, and you spend a few minutes once a year.
Thank you Lyn, such pretty purple nemesia in the photos. I love all the different flowers together in one pot. I might get some daisy seeds and plant them next spring.
I just had a thorough inspection of mine, and I can't see any hint of a seed purse at all, and they've had a long time to start making one. So I think maybe mine aren't the seeding variety. I see now that the new green shoots coming from the bottom are actually producing flowers. So I suppose it really is time to cut off the old long stems! I might leave it a few days as each one has a flower on top and they are rather pretty. But then I think I'll go for the chop.
Simone_in_Wiltshire yes I do have snails and slugs, not a lot, but some. I do like the idea of leaving growth in autumn and generally leaving foliage/ground cover as the hedgehogs like it.
So I think I might be leaving quite a bit this autumn then, and wait until spring and prune everything then. My only hesitation is that in spring everything seems to be growing a lot of new growth before the date of the last frost, and I don't want to cut that new growth off with my pruning. So I wonder if it's OK to do my pruning well before the last frost, before the spring growth spurt starts.
@Pink678 Unless plants are very scruffy I leave cutting back until spring. Not only does it give birds food and insects a home you still have something to look at in the garden.
So many plants have lovely seed heads, something I am always looking for to add to my garden. The Winter garden can become a very special place especially if you look closely.
Years ago I cut every plant back in a border and looked at a patch of soil all winter.I learnt the hard way. Gardens should be for all seasons.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
GardenerSuze that is so true. I had an idea of 'preparing for winter' and cutting stuff back last year, but now I think about it, how true that a bare flowerbed is no fun to look at. I think the old salvia spikes might look quite pretty when frosted.
I think the only things I need to cut back are things I need to mulch - the gladioli and the dahlias, which I'll have to cut to ground level and cover in a mound of soil. I think I do need to do them. And I'll weed the flowerbeds
But everything else I can leave for the wildlife to munch/use all autumn, and then to give some interest in winter.
When do you do your spring pruning? I'm still grappling with this problem that everything starts producing lovely new green shoots and growth well before the last frost ... so is it OK to spring prune much earlier than that, so I don't have to cut off the new fresh spring growth?
@Pink678 - I think you're going to be a very good gardener - you clearly have very good gardening instincts!
I prefer my garden a little tidier so I nearly always cut off dead top growth which looks too scruffy for me to enjoy. I have plenty of evergreen plants and ground cover to provide shelter for wildlife and there are lots of shrubs and trees with long lasting berries to provide winter food for the birds and small mammals. Anything with an attractive seed head (echinacea, erygiums, teasel etc) I leave for the time being.
I do tidy my borders in the autumn but they are usually still quite full going into December. At some point over winter we'll have a hard frost and after that a lot of the dead stuff goes floppy and mushy and I feel the need to cut the dead material back asap. An hour's work 'tidying' in January can be very rewarding.🙂
I do my main spring cut back and mulching between February & April depending on the weather. Last couple of years we've had a very mild spring and it's been a pleasure to be working outside in February. The tougher hardy perennials (eg hardy geraniums) I cut back whenever it suits me. Anything I know to be a bit more tender (eg penstemons) I leave until April.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Topbird that is very kind of you - I have so much to learn ... when I'm gardening I wish I had a experienced gardener with me telling me what to do! I tend to do a lot of guessing ...
It's very helpful to hear how you do your garden. I can imagine sculptural seed heads would look lovely in a winter garden.
I see, so come winter, cutting off the dead/floppy/mushy stuff is fine whenever, as it's dead of course so won't be sprouting. Then in early spring, for stuff where new shoots will come up, it depends, but I can cut the hardier stuff earlier (while frosts still happening) and leave the tender stuff for later. Next step: trying to guess tenderness of everything
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The fuchsias, I don’t know the names, I just break of bits and take cutting and pop them in any spaces.
They do indeed stay out there all all winter and the reason they are all different shades of pink is because I collected the seeds from others and they don’t come true, so most of them turn out pink, I don’t mind that though, I love the plants whatever colour. Some of them are from a trailing variety.
You’re exactly right about cutting off the stems once the flowers have almost finished.
Have you got some seed pods yet, Not all Nemesias do get seeds, ( hope yours does)
but yes, cut them down, they may get some more flowers this year, they may not, it’s getting late now. But you’ll know what to do next year and with some trimming will get them to flower all year through.
I ♥ my garden.
I just had a thorough inspection of mine, and I can't see any hint of a seed purse at all, and they've had a long time to start making one. So I think maybe mine aren't the seeding variety. I see now that the new green shoots coming from the bottom are actually producing flowers. So I suppose it really is time to cut off the old long stems! I might leave it a few days as each one has a flower on top and they are rather pretty. But then I think I'll go for the chop.
So I think I might be leaving quite a bit this autumn then, and wait until spring and prune everything then. My only hesitation is that in spring everything seems to be growing a lot of new growth before the date of the last frost, and I don't want to cut that new growth off with my pruning. So I wonder if it's OK to do my pruning well before the last frost, before the spring growth spurt starts.
So many plants have lovely seed heads, something I am always looking for to add to my garden. The Winter garden can become a very special place especially if you look closely.
Years ago I cut every plant back in a border and looked at a patch of soil all winter.I learnt the hard way. Gardens should be for all seasons.
I prefer my garden a little tidier so I nearly always cut off dead top growth which looks too scruffy for me to enjoy. I have plenty of evergreen plants and ground cover to provide shelter for wildlife and there are lots of shrubs and trees with long lasting berries to provide winter food for the birds and small mammals. Anything with an attractive seed head (echinacea, erygiums, teasel etc) I leave for the time being.
I do tidy my borders in the autumn but they are usually still quite full going into December. At some point over winter we'll have a hard frost and after that a lot of the dead stuff goes floppy and mushy and I feel the need to cut the dead material back asap. An hour's work 'tidying' in January can be very rewarding.🙂
I do my main spring cut back and mulching between February & April depending on the weather. Last couple of years we've had a very mild spring and it's been a pleasure to be working outside in February. The tougher hardy perennials (eg hardy geraniums) I cut back whenever it suits me. Anything I know to be a bit more tender (eg penstemons) I leave until April.
It's very helpful to hear how you do your garden. I can imagine sculptural seed heads would look lovely in a winter garden.
I see, so come winter, cutting off the dead/floppy/mushy stuff is fine whenever, as it's dead of course so won't be sprouting. Then in early spring, for stuff where new shoots will come up, it depends, but I can cut the hardier stuff earlier (while frosts still happening) and leave the tender stuff for later. Next step: trying to guess tenderness of everything