Have you thought of transferring one or two of your plants to large pots? This would give them space all to themselves and give more room to those which you leave in situ. I think 'stacking up' should read 'staking up' - makes sense with a dahlia.
Thanks Rozie, me again too old for this lark, yes it is staking. Try running twine around the stakes.,Amy and I do not think Love Lies bleeding will survive the winter
I do this every year, I put plant plugs in early on when the beds look bare and a couple of months later you couldn't get a toothpick between the plants. I just pull out any weak ones that are not thriving.
I'm looking at your photos and thinking "what's the problem.
I don't think there's such a thing as a border that's too crowded or crammed . Indeed my whole approach to gardening is to absolutely pack loads of plants into the available space. I personally dislike patches of earth and just occasional plants.
Your plants all look healthy and it looks nice. I personally am not thinking dig more border or make some space. In fact I'd be so bold as to say that IF you dug big borders then you'd need to get more plants.
I've posted photos of mine so you can see what I mean. I've frequently had debate with folks about my planting and ordinarily when they've been watching me unload a mass of plants ready to plant in an area or when I've just got a new area dug over and all the plants set out ready to go in. I've often been told "too many". "more space". However the very same people look at my garden and say it's looking lovely and this week alone I've had 5 people tell me they really like it and "it's fantastic" "beautiful". But ultimately I like it and that's all that matters.
I go round my garden with my "weapon of choice" - secateurs and cut off any dead flowers to encourage new growth where I can get in and reach it and when I can be bothered and then as soon as something has finished it's flowering season I chop it right back and pull anything out that's past it's best or that's in the wrong place e.g. stuff that's self seeded or I've planted in the wrong place like smaller at the back or tall at the front or something that might have drifted say into shade that needs sun or vice versa.
Here's what I'd do with the plants you mentioned:
Lupins - cut off dead flowers to encourage new ones. Possibly scattering some seed as I do it.
Dahlias - Here they'd struggle to survive a winter but after they've been chopped back they'd be covered in a thick mulch of well rotted horse manure. Strictly speaking I believe the tubours should be dug up and nurtured over winter but heck.... life's too short
Love lies bleeding - Is that an annual or a short lived perennial? I'd just let some of that self seed and then chop it all back once it's died or else just rip it out in Autumn.
Poppies - Once they've flowered then cut them all off. I leave a few on to self seed but really I don't have to plan that. You struggle to stop poppies seeding and in fact they tend to be a plant that I'm often moving because it's arrived in the wrong place.
Aside from lots of plants looking nice it does have the added advantage of not providing much space for weeds and if and when weeds do arrive it takes ages before anyone notices and sees them
So when you say you chop things back when they've finished flowering.. do you mean cut right back or just a bit. With the poppies would I cut them right down to the ground?
With the lupins they haven't flowered at all yet.. I'm thinking next year they will.. but the leaves are taking over! Can I cut off some of the stems that are obscuring the other plants?
Yes LLB is either annual or bi annual so don't expect it to live into next year but that's okay. I didn't realise how big they'd get!
When you say you pull stuff out.. is that just plants you don't want anymore? Or do you re - plant some of them in different places? I could do with swapping round my lillies and sorbaria sem but I'm worried I'll disturb them and they won't like it.
I'm brutal with poppies. So just be aware that this isn't necessarily what you should do. I cut the flowers stalks off and either leave the green to die back and then just pull it all off or if I want to clear some space and have time then I just cut the whole lot back hard. I've never found it possible to stop poppies growing
Lupins - They won't die if you trim some leaves off. But if you're cutting them off then they're not going to produce their beautiful flower spikes.
Will the lupins flower this year now though? Is it not too late in the year? I grew them from seed and sometimes growing from seed I was under the impression that you don't always get flowers until the 2nd year?
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Have you thought of transferring one or two of your plants to large pots? This would give them space all to themselves and give more room to those which you leave in situ. I think 'stacking up' should read 'staking up' - makes sense with a dahlia.
Thanks Rozie, me again too old for this lark, yes it is staking. Try running twine around the stakes.,Amy and I do not think Love Lies bleeding will survive the winter
I'm looking at your photos and thinking "what's the problem.
I don't think there's such a thing as a border that's too crowded or crammed . Indeed my whole approach to gardening is to absolutely pack loads of plants into the available space. I personally dislike patches of earth and just occasional plants.
Your plants all look healthy and it looks nice. I personally am not thinking dig more border or make some space. In fact I'd be so bold as to say that IF you dug big borders then you'd need to get more plants.
I've posted photos of mine so you can see what I mean. I've frequently had debate with folks about my planting and ordinarily when they've been watching me unload a mass of plants ready to plant in an area or when I've just got a new area dug over and all the plants set out ready to go in. I've often been told "too many". "more space". However the very same people look at my garden and say it's looking lovely and this week alone I've had 5 people tell me they really like it and "it's fantastic" "beautiful". But ultimately I like it and that's all that matters.
I go round my garden with my "weapon of choice" - secateurs and cut off any dead flowers to encourage new growth where I can get in and reach it and when I can be bothered and then as soon as something has finished it's flowering season I chop it right back and pull anything out that's past it's best or that's in the wrong place e.g. stuff that's self seeded or I've planted in the wrong place like smaller at the back or tall at the front or something that might have drifted say into shade that needs sun or vice versa.
Here's what I'd do with the plants you mentioned:
Lupins - cut off dead flowers to encourage new ones. Possibly scattering some seed as I do it.
Dahlias - Here they'd struggle to survive a winter but after they've been chopped back they'd be covered in a thick mulch of well rotted horse manure. Strictly speaking I believe the tubours should be dug up and nurtured over winter but heck.... life's too short
Love lies bleeding - Is that an annual or a short lived perennial? I'd just let some of that self seed and then chop it all back once it's died or else just rip it out in Autumn.
Poppies - Once they've flowered then cut them all off. I leave a few on to self seed but really I don't have to plan that. You struggle to stop poppies seeding and in fact they tend to be a plant that I'm often moving because it's arrived in the wrong place.
Aside from lots of plants looking nice it does have the added advantage of not providing much space for weeds and if and when weeds do arrive it takes ages before anyone notices and sees them
Completely gorgeous Northern Lass .....keep on packing 'em in I'd say
So when you say you chop things back when they've finished flowering.. do you mean cut right back or just a bit. With the poppies would I cut them right down to the ground?
With the lupins they haven't flowered at all yet.. I'm thinking next year they will.. but the leaves are taking over! Can I cut off some of the stems that are obscuring the other plants?
Yes LLB is either annual or bi annual so don't expect it to live into next year but that's okay. I didn't realise how big they'd get!
When you say you pull stuff out.. is that just plants you don't want anymore? Or do you re - plant some of them in different places? I could do with swapping round my lillies and sorbaria sem but I'm worried I'll disturb them and they won't like it.
I'm brutal with poppies. So just be aware that this isn't necessarily what you should do. I cut the flowers stalks off and either leave the green to die back and then just pull it all off or if I want to clear some space and have time then I just cut the whole lot back hard. I've never found it possible to stop poppies growing
Lupins - They won't die if you trim some leaves off. But if you're cutting them off then they're not going to produce their beautiful flower spikes.
ahah you never said that. In that case they may well not flower till next year