Hydrangeas do not follow one-size-fits-all winter rules or arbitrary October wrapping deadlines. What matters most is knowing whether your particular shrub blooms on old wood, new growth, or both. A few careful decisions noe that can make a big difference on how well your hydrangea comes through winter and flowers next season. Task 1: Identify…
Is your iris bed looking like a rhizome wrestling match? Time to break up the underground crowd! September is a great time to slice, dice, and untangle those roots so they head into fall healthy and ready for a strong spring. Task 1: Fan Out, Split Up, Shorten Down If you haven’t dug up your…
Your patio geraniums (aka pelargoniums: the tender types we grow in pots and summer beds, not hardy perennial geraniums) spent all summer living their best life outdoors. Now the nights are getting colder, and reality is crashing the party. If you want to bring the same plants back out next spring, it’s time to prep…
September dahlia care is a little like speed-dating for flowers. You have a short window to make the right calls. Cut the losers fast, or end up with a garden full of regret. These seven jobs are the ones worth doing before frost calls time. Task 1: Deadhead Cones, Protect Marbles The biggest late-season dahlia…
If I had a dollar for every person who’s messaged me saying their hydrangeas are all leaves and no blooms (sometimes for years) I’d be a trillionaire by now. Then there are those lucky bastards who swear they “do nothing,” yet their hydrangeas are absolutely covered in flowers. So what gives? The truth is, their “nothing”…
Perennials are wonderfully reliable, but by September, some of them start looking like they’ve had enough of summer. Spent flowers, floppy stems, yellowing leaves… the garden goes from lush to slightly exhausted surprisingly fast. That doesn’t mean everything needs a dramatic haircut, though. Get the timing right, and they’ll come back next spring looking healthier,…