| “Chelsea Chop” |
| This week, the Chelsea Flower Show is being held from May 21st through May 25th at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London. Visitors will enjoy gorgeous garden designs and floral displays. For those that can’t attend, however, this still marks an important time: the window has opened to apply the “Chelsea Chop” to many of our summer-flowering perennials! The “Chelsea Chop,” or cutting back, is a great way to control the height of some of your taller perennials, reduce flopping of tall stems, extend the bloom time, and encourage bushier growth with more flowers for many species in our gardens. Its name comes from the shared timing with the famed flower show, but can be performed anytime in late May and early June. |
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| When picking candidate plants, keep these things in mind: The plant should flower in summer or later. Goldenrods (Solidago), Asters (Aster/Symphyotrichum) are therefore good candidates, for example. The plant should be able to branch out and still flower. Plants like Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium spp.) will branch at a node after pruning, but plants like Dense Blazing Stars (Liatris spicata) send up their flowering stems directly from the ground, and don’t typically branch after they start to grow vertically. They lose the opportunity to flower if those stems are cut. Plants that often flop due to their height, shade intolerance, soil that is too rich, or lack of support may benefit from being cut back. Culvers’ Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) grows tall and may flop over, especially if it doesn’t have root or stem competition to keep it upright, or if it is leaning out of a shady area to find the light. For Monarch butterfly enthusiasts, it may be worth chopping some of your Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), as the caterpillars seem to prefer young, fresh leaves over older, tougher ones. Cutting back your plants will freshen the plants up and stimulate more foliage to grow. So, how does one perform a “Chelsea Chop?” Cut above a node (where the leaf grows off of the stem) to stimulate branching from the axillary buds (that sit at the node above the petioles of the leaves). If possible, make the cut at a 45-degree angle to help prevent water from collecting on or in the open stem. Cut the plant back by ⅓ to ½ of its total height, or whatever your preference is, but don’t cut further than that. The plant may not recover well if more mass is removed. For large groups of plants with plenty of nodes, feel free to use gardening shears to speed the process up. If you want a tidy appearance, you should check for any shorter stems that were missed, as those might spring above the others while they recover. In addition to the structural benefits to the plants themselves, or caterpillars that may prefer fresh leaves to eat, there are a number of ways you can utilize this aesthetically in your gardens. By selectively cutting back some, but not all, of a given group, you can extend the bloom time since the cut plants will bloom later than the others. Also, you can create different height levels within plant groups that will then bloom sequentially throughout the season. This can help provide depth and color to your landscape. While this is far from complete, here is a list of some of the types of plants that may be eligible for the “Cheslea Chop” in your gardens: Agastache Asclepias Aster/Symphyotrichum Boltonia Chelone Coreopsis Echinacea Heliopsis Hibiscus Monarda Phlox (summer-blooming only) Pycnanthemum Ratibida Rudbeckia Solidago Verbena Vernonia Veronicastrum Hopefully, you find this helpful in managing your gardens this summer! |
May 2024 Newsletter
