Hi Folks
Can you help me. I am new gardening and have designed and created a beautiful garden from Spring. One problem, now that all of my plants have flowered, I do not know what to do when the flowering ends and the flower is dead. Do I cut them or just leave them? The plants I have are hosta and lillies.
Hi Kazie,
You can cut the spent flower stalks of the hostas near the base. You don't say which type of lilies you have. For daylilies you can deadhead as the flowers are spent and cut the spent stem near the base of the plant too. For Oriental and Asiatic lilies you can cut off the spent flowers but leave the stalk to feed the bulb for next years bloom. Remove the stalk near the soil when it yellows.
There's a wonderful book called Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust that you should find very helpful. You might be able to get it at the library to see if you like it.
Newt
You can cut the spent flower stalks of the hostas near the base. You don't say which type of lilies you have. For daylilies you can deadhead as the flowers are spent and cut the spent stem near the base of the plant too. For Oriental and Asiatic lilies you can cut off the spent flowers but leave the stalk to feed the bulb for next years bloom. Remove the stalk near the soil when it yellows.
There's a wonderful book called Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust that you should find very helpful. You might be able to get it at the library to see if you like it.
Newt