View full sizeDeadhead daylilies diligently to keep the blooms coming.Herbaceous perennials are easy, but they need a little sprucing up to keep looking good all summer long. Now's the time to shear spring bloomers to ensure good-looking foliage for the rest of the season. Plants to cut back include:
- Arabis caucasica
- Aubrieta deltoidea
- Aurinia saxatilis
- Iberis sempervirens
- Phlox subulata
It's also time to cut back late-season bloomers by half to control height and eliminate the need for staking. Perennials treated this way will mature at a shorter height and may flower slightly later than unpruned perennials. Plants that respond to this treatment include:
- Artemisia ludoviciana
- Aster novae-angliae
- Boltonia asteroides
- Eupatorium maculatum
- Rudbeckia
All summer long, deadhead flowers to eliminate an abundance of unwanted seedlings and promote continued bloom or later rebloom. Plants to deadhead:
- Allium
- Coreopsis lanceolata
- Hemerocallis
- Phlox paniculata
-- Homes & Gardens staff
If you want to automatically receive a daily homes and gardens tip, sign up at OregonLive.com's newsletters subscription site.