This week: How to Do the Chelsea Crop
Hello!
Have you seen the Joe Pye Weed lately? Mine is at least 4 feet high, and it is just barely June. Even though it is planted near the back of my garden, a behemoth plant isn’t really in my plans. Enter the Chelsea Crop.
Named because its timing corresponds with the UK’s Chelsea Flower Show, the Chelsea Crop is an optional size and bloom management technique. Simply put, cutting back certain perennials by a third to a half in June will make the plant shorter, and if it is shorter, it will be less floppy. You can also selectively cut some of each plant to stagger and prolong bloom times.
There’s no magic to where you cut the stem—the plant will find a way to bounce back—but placing the cut just above a leaf is recommended by “people who know things.” Whether you use scissors or hand pruners, disinfect the blades with household rubbing alcohol before making the first cut to prevent the spread of diseases.
A Usage Example
I have a Sneezeweed plant that is too close to my fence gate. By August, it has usually flopped into the path. To prevent that, I chopped the tallest stems in half. I left the shorter stems as they were, and the stems closest to the gate lost roughly two-thirds of their height. The stems I left untouched will bloom first, followed by the rest. And, fingers crossed, this plant will be a compact specimen this season. I’ll do the same staggered chopping on a few of my Joe Pye Weed and Ironweed plants, mostly to extend the bloom period.
Croppable Plants
According to Tracy DiSabato-Aust, author of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: The Essential Guide to Planting and Pruning Techniques, you can chop the following native plants. (By the way, if you don’t have that book, get it. The title does not exaggerate; it is essential.)
Achillea - Yarrow
Agastache -Anise Hyssop
Echinacea purpurea - Purple Coneflower
Eutrochium - Joe Pye Weed
Helenium autumnale - Sneezeweed
Helianthus - Perennial Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides - Oxeye Sunflower
Phlox paniculata - Garden Phlox
Physostegia virginiana - Obedient Plant
Rudbeckia - Black-Eyed Susan
Solidago - Goldenrod
Symphyotrichum - Aster
Tradescantia - Spiderwort
Vernonia noveboracensis - Ironweed
Veronicastrum virginicum - Culver’s Root
So, get out there and trim some plants!
Elsewhere:
I just read the new Doug Tallamy book, How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard. It’s more of a reference book than his previous titles, offering plenty of practical advice for planting and maintaining native plants, as well as surprising takes on pest issues like mosquitoes and poison ivy. It’s a worthwhile read!
Have a good week,
Julie