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The Chelsea Chop

JohnjoeJohnjoe Posts: 77
in Plants
Hi all,

Can I "Chelsea-chop" Delphiniums and Foxgloves? A slug managed to climb to the top of a delphinium and eat out the growing bud (about 3ft high!, I'm sure they use Parachutes here) and I had already been daring myself to try the CC this year, also I have many foxgloves, some very strong but a few are looking a bit weedy. Any advice would be gratefully received, thanks in advance.

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I don't think it works for those plants that produce tall spikes of flowers, but someone might be along with better information. It's better for later-flowering bushy things like asters (sympho-wotsit? now), sedums (hylotelephium) like Autumn Joy etc, border phlox and so on. My understanding is that you do the Chelsea chop before the plants start to produce flowers, then they branch out and produce later flowers and more of them, on lower, bushier plants.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • GrannybeeGrannybee Posts: 332
    Don’t chop delphiniums or foxgloves as you will lose the flowers for this year.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Most foxgloves are biennials and produce a single flower spike.

    On the other hand, I've always found that, if I cut the main stem from a delphinium or foxglove once the flowers have gone over (in a bid to stop them burning energy on seed production) they will often send up a couple of much smaller stems that flower later on so there's less of a gap in the border.

    Not worth Chelsea chopping for tho.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    If you cut off the foxglove flower spike after flowering you can get a little second flush of small spikes. It looks a bit weird though IMO
  • LeadFarmerLeadFarmer Posts: 1,500
    Anyone tried doing it to honesty plants, to get a second flush of flowers, or to delay flowering?
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    LeadFarmer said:
    Anyone tried doing it to honesty plants, to get a second flush of flowers, or to delay flowering?
    No, but I do have a load of smaller plants growing that clearly germinated later than the ones that are already in flower. They look big enough to flower in a month or two but I don't know whether they actually will.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • JohnjoeJohnjoe Posts: 77
    Thanks everyone, my Shears have been hung back up for the time being

  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited May 2023
    For the damaged delph, and the excess of foxgloves, it's worth an experiment.  Please report back.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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