Chelsea Chopping!

The Chelsea Chop is a pruning technique carried out on late-flowering perennials. These are flowers that come back year after year, and typically bloom August and later.

Chopping can be used to delay flowering times. If you chop some of your plants and leave others you will be able to give yourself a good spread of flowers over a longer period.

The other reason is to stop plants from growing so tall that they flop over, fall over and/or get damaged in the wind.

Suitable plants include Sedums, tall Asters (michaelmas daisy), tall Rudbeckias & Echinaceas (coneflowers), Leucanthemums, Heleniums & Helianthus, and Phlox.

In late May or early June chop off the top third or top half of the plants. Ideally cut immediately above leaf shoots, as plants will regrow better from these points.

Come flowering times you will have shorter, stockier, stronger plants that shouldn't need staking - and are therefore lower maintenance!

Tips courtesy of Bridge Farm Plants at Corn Craft, Monks Eleigh.
Open 10am to 4pm every day.
www.bridgefarmplants.co.uk