Must confess that I've dropped the ball on the deadheading front here at Struan Farm. With two weddings in the Homestead gardens in December and January they've definitely had my attention this summer, along with our farmstay guests. But lately the gardens at the new(ish) house cried out for equal time. They're greenfield, created from paddock over the past year or so.
The new gardens have exacted their revenge for my lack of attention. We're talking trailer loads of weeds, even if my FitBit can't quite keep track of those. (The volume of weeds should calm down somewhat as the gardens become more established, she says optimistically....and did she forget to mention that we're laying out more new gardens to plant over winter?....)
However the main Homestead gardens can be ignored for only so long. Deadheading of roses and hydrangea is seriously overdue! The roses have just had a second major bloom, should have at least one more for the season if kept deadheaded. The hydrangeas have had such a happy summer that they are falling all over themselves. I've read that it's good to cut off the spent blooms now since the plants bloom on new wood. Cutting back now will allow the stems to grow for next year's flowers.
Heigh ho, heigh ho, with secaturs in hand I go!
p.s. and we just won't talk about those drooping dahlias, okay?
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