It’s Chelsea Chop time! By pruning back some later flowering herbaceous plants such as Phlox, Monarda and Campanula now it will prolong their flowering until later in the season. This means the flowers will be 6 weeks later but the plants will be bushier. It is known as the ‘Chelsea Chop’ as it happens around the time of the Chelsea Flower Show at the end of May. Clumps of perennials can be cut back by 1/3rd to 1/2 with secateurs or shears. If you have large clumps of late flowering perennials you can cut back some but leave the others. This will extend the flowering season of your plants. Plants that respond well to the Chelsea Chop are – Anthemis tinctorial, Echinacea purpurea,
Helenium, Phlox paniculate, Sedum and Solidago.
