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,…
Pruning hydrangeas has somehow earned a reputation for being ridiculously complicated. It really isn’t, once you know what kind of hydrangea you’re growing. Some bloom on old wood, some on new wood, and some on both. Get the timing wrong and, yep, you can accidentally cut off next season’s flowers. So let’s make this simple. I’ll…
Some perennials look completely harmless when you first plant them, but give them a few seasons and you may start wondering why they’re suddenly showing up everywhere except where you wanted them. Not all of these are invasive everywhere in the U.S., but they can still become a real headache. So, let’s look at 9 perennials you…
You spent all of July and August strutting around the yard showing off your fiery tropicals like you personally invented photosynthesis. But bragging season is officially winding down. By September is where real gardeners prove their worth, and to save the rhizomes for next year, you need to step between them and the first frost….