Fall Garden Chores and a Beautiful Bouquet

What started off recently as a lesson in fall garden chores turned into a beautiful garden bouquet for this little lady…

Fall Garden Chores Results in Beautiful Bouquet
Fall Garden Chores Results in Beautiful Bouquet
Fall Garden Chores Results in Beautiful Bouquet
look at that concentration!

Fall Garden Chores and Cleanup

I like to do as much as I can to clean up my gardens before the snow flies so I won’t have as much to do in the spring. Some plants however like the protection of their leaves, slimy as they may be, over the winter. Cut back some perennials to prevent the spread of powdery mildew. Included in this list are the following:

  • peonies
  • coneflowers
  • phlox (the tall variety)
  • monarda
  • anything else that looks diseased, dead, broken etc.
  • hostas

Fall is also a great time to move things around, so if you (and the plant) were not completely happy with the location of some perennials, get moving.

It is a bit late for deadheading, but I did do so to a few perennials hoping I might get one last flush of bloom in this warm weather.

Gathering Up The Remaining Blooms

My three year old granddaughter loves to pick flowers from my garden anytime. Recently she started off helping me do some fall cleanup. The clippers soon gravitated to the few flowers still blooming

The bouquet she ended up with was beautiful:

Of course I cannot refuse any request from this sweet girl. I love the fact that she loves my flower gardens as much as I do!

This one was just a bud at the time, so she missed it:

Fall Garden Chores Results in Beautiful Bouquet

The advantages of deadheading perennials

Deadheading perennials in your garden involves removing spent flower heads.  You can either pinch the flower heads off between your finger and thumb, or cut them off with clippers.  Sometimes, especially when flower heads are small, (coreopsis for example) you can shear off the flower heads with shearers.  If roses flower in clusters, snip off the whole stem of the cluster.  If they flower singly, snip off just the flower head.

Whichever way you do it, deadheading has its advantages.  It makes your garden look tidier, prevents plants from reseeding themselves and sometimes promotes reblooming.  I have had several reblooms on my coreopsis, roses, salvias, coneflowers and widows tears this season.

Learn how to deadhead your perennials to extend their flowering season.