Cutback perennials for continued blooms in fall

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Q: Some of the perennial flowers I planted in my garden, such as salvias, mums and black-eyed Susans, are starting to flop over and look pretty bedraggled. When I bought them, the tags said they would bloom summer to frost. What I have done wrong?

A: You’ve done nothing wrong, but there is one more step you need to do: Cut back your plants to rejuvenate new growth.

The tags don’t tell you that summer-blooming perennials usually grow vigorously during spring and early summer and then they get leggy and tired. To rejuvenate them, trim them back by a half to two-thirds.

If the stems are soft, you can pinch them back by hand. If the stems have become woody or the plant has become a sprawling mess, it probably would be easier to take hand-pruners or garden shears to the plant. It will look a little barren for a few days, but you’ll see new growth soon.

Q: I have a great crop of figs, but the birds are getting most of them. Someone suggested I buy netting and cover the tree, but the birds just peck through the webbing. Plus, the tree is so tall now, I can barely reach the fruit at the top. Do I have any chance of tasting a fig this year?

A: It sounds like you bought the netting sold in garden centers, which has an open weave – openings about an inch or so across -- and is great for creating net trellises for fruits and vegetables, but it’s not so great for protecting fruit. Go to a fabric store and ask for the netting used for little girls’ ballet costumes and princess outfits. It’s also used for lots of craft projects. It has a tighter weave but still lets rain and air through. It comes in lots of colors, too, if you want to amuse your neighbors.

You can also use the floating row covers that you use to protect your vegetables from frost. It’s a spun fabric-like material that lets rain and air through, but it also raises the temperature beneath it, so I don’t recommend using it in our summers.

If you live in the Tallahassee area, mark your calendar to prune your figs in December so you can reach the fruit easily next year.