After the flowers on the daffodils and tulips are done blooming it is a good practice to pinch off the flower end or even cut back the stem so the plant does not try to produce seed. This is called deadheading.
Deadheading will help the plant to put energy back in the bulb for next year’s bloom. Letting the foliage wither away and die back on its own will energize the bulb also for next season also. If you need to clean up the bed once the leaves have already turned brown it’s safe to cut them back and put the leaves in the compost pile. I also deadhead peonies and daylilies. After the daylilies have bloomed sometimes the beds start to look spent and old. I have found that after they have bloomed, if you cut the foliage back to the ground the plant will send up new foliage and look fresher for the rest of the summer.
Prune Flowering Bushes:
Spring flowering shrubs should be pruned after they have flowered. Some shrubs may need to be thinned or cut back drastically, while others may benefit from a simple removal of dead flowers and broken or diseased branches.
For our fragrant viburnums I usually only cut off the dead flower ends and cut out the branches that are crossing, dead, or going in the wrong direction. We have one that I need to prune very year to keep it from taking over the area it’s located in. I selectively cut back each branch toward the inside of the shrub trying to do it so it won’t show that it was pruned, and every year it comes back stronger than ever with lots of flowers and full of green foliage. You don’t want to take a hedge trimmer to it and cut all the branches back to the same length. You want the shrub to look as natural as possible.
There is loads of information on pruning on the web and in books that will help you make the right cuts for your shrubs. It’s always a good idea to check it out first.
Spread those wood chips:
Every spring we get a couple truckloads of chips and spread them around our garden paths and flower beds. Doing this in spring works out well because we can see the plants starting to emerge and it’s easier to get in there and spread them around. Chips will act as mulch and will also help retain moisture in the beds for the plants; they also keep the weeds down.
