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Everblooming or reblooming perennials look stellar in early summer when their flowers burst forth full force and are at their freshest and most colorful. But by midsummer, they start to look bedraggled, lackluster and downright crummy without care. This is the time for a midseason overhaul to get them back in shape for late summer and fall!
 Early in the summer, many reblooming perennials are at their brightest and most beautiful. With a little extra care and cutting, the show can go on! Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
Different gardeners take different approaches to the perennial “lift,” and time usually dictates approach. Those with lots of time meticulously pick away at the plants, snipping off dead flowers as they fade and removing unsightly browning leaves and stems as they start to discolor. This is what I used to do when I worked in public gardening. But time-strapped home gardeners – those of us with kids, day jobs and the like – may want to take the fast midseason whole-hog approach. This is what I’ve been forced to do, and the results are very pleasing once you get past the “extreme” part of the makeover.
My perennial beds are large, and through June and July I try to sporadically remove spent flowers from plants to encourage new blooms, but by mid- to late July they all start to look tired. Yarrows (Achillea), anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), ornamental sages (Salvia), catmints (Nepeta), daylilies (Hemerocallis), blanketflowers (Gaillardia) and tickseeds (Coreopsis) are several common perennials that start to wane but will pick right back up if given a good haircut and some TLC.
I’ve also found less common perennials, like Atlas poppies (Papaver atlanticum), Stoke’s asters (Stokesia laevis) and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), respond well to a midsummer chop chop. Then there are those perennials that look crummy if their flower stalks are left aloft – Hosta, Heuchera, beardtongue (Penstemon), cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) and torch lilies (Kniphofia uvaria), to name a few.
Makeover techniques vary depending on the plant. Here are several I’ve found wonderfully effective for different reblooming perennials:
Yarrows Yarrows first form basal rosettes of ferny foliage, and in late spring or early summer they send up tall, flowering stems with flat-topped flower clusters. Once the flowers start to die, the flowering stems start to peter out, too. This is the time to cut them back to the rosette to encourage new flowering stems. Yarrow Before The brown flower heads and flagging foliage of Achillea millefolium ‘Laura’ suggest it’s time to make the cut. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith Yarrow After Admittedly, this little peaked mound looks meager and sad, but have no fear – by fall it will be lovely again! Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
Nepeta, Salvia nemorosa and Hybrids These plants are much like Yarrow in treatment: Once their flowering stems start to look lackluster, cut them way back to the base. This will encourage a whole new flush of basal foliage and then flowers. Nepeta Before Just below the gangly stems of these spent Nepeta ‘Joanna Reed’ flowers lies a mound of fresh foliage. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith Nepeta After The neat rosette of fresh foliage will start sending up flowering stems in a matter of weeks. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
Daylilies There are two ways to tackle remontant, or reblooming, Hemerocallis (or any daylily for that matter): You can either carefully clip back each dying flower stalk and pull out all the dead, dry leaves at the base, or you can give the whole mound a hard shear. The latter looks a bit severe for a week or so, but then magically fresh foliage bursts forth creating a neat, green mound. My rebloomers bloom better this way, too. Pruned Daylilies With good care, hard-pruned daylilies, like this Hemerocallis ‘Happy Returns’, should produce new foliage quickly. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith Rebloomed Daylilies Beautiful blooms will soon follow! Photo Credit: Mark A. Miller
Blanketflower Less extreme pruning will keep perennial blanketflower (Gaillardia x grandiflora) looking clean and flowering splendidly. Simply remove dead leaves and snip developing seed heads back below the foliage line. Blanketflower Before Dying leaves and flower heads make perennials like this Gaillardia x grandiflora ‘Fanfare’ look a mess. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith Blanket Flower After After a simple cleanup, the plants look fresh again. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
Lamb’s ear, Hosta and Heuchera Some believe the dead flower stalks of torch lilies add structural interest, but I don’t. I’ve also found cutting them back can encourage new late season flowers. The same can be said for some foliage plants, like lamb’s ear, Hosta and Heuchera. These beauties gain so much by simply removing the flower stalks. (+ Run with Images 10 and 11) Lamb’s Ear Before Old flower stems and browning leaves can be easily removed from foliage plants like lamb’s ear. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith Lamb’s Ear After Now the mounds of foliage look much cleaner. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
Atlas Poppies Unlike most poppies that only bloom once a season, Altas poppies are springy, beautiful perennials that will bloom again with some care and cleanup. Just remove the dry, brown flower stems to make way for the new. (+ Run with Images 12 and 13) Atlas Poppy Before At the base of this Atlas poppy’s spent flowers are new buds getting ready to bloom. Cut back the old to make way for the new. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith Atlas Poppy After With simple deadheading, you can hardly tell that the old flower stalks were there. Photo Credit: Jessie Keith
After cutting back perennials, always water well and feed your plants with high-phosphorus plant food formulated for flowering. (Tiger Bloom®, Bloom Plus® and Super Bloom® are good choices.) Keep your plants cared for, and the foliage and flowers will rush back nearly full force – just in time for a late summer and fall performance.
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