By Stephanie Brash, Master Gardener, SCMG
Are your flowering containers and baskets feeling the heat? Are annuals that were once glorious starting to look straggly and tired? All is not lost, you can return them to their former glory in a few simple steps.
- Cut leggy plants back by half. Although it may seem daunting to remove so much of your prized plants, most annuals actually love a haircut. Removing spent flowers and leggy branches signals to the plant that it needs to make more. Make your cuts just above where leaves come from the stem, which is where new growth will occur. Improvement will begin quickly, likely within a few days, and within in a week or two there will be new flowers budding.
- Fertilize. A lack of adequate nutrition can be part of the reason for waning pots later in the season as the roots will have expanded to fill the soil and mined what is available. Even timed-release fertilizer will be past its prime by now, plants will have used most of it up, and some of it will have naturally washed out of the soil over multiple waterings. Use a water-soluble fertilizer at this point in the season to easily give the plants a boost of energy during a regular watering.
- Thin Out. If you (perhaps intentionally) overcrowded your containers early in the season for instant gratification (I am guilty of this) then the plants may be choking each other out as they fight for room to grow further. Feel free to remove one or two and replace the spaces they leave with fresh soil to revive your remaining potted plants.
- Replace any individual plants that do not start to quickly improve by swapping out the summer annuals for a new plant with more fall-like colours available in greenhouses this time of year. Consider adding a little houseplant for some leaf colour and shape variation such a croton or spider plant. Or, add a small pumpkin or funky gourd to fill in any bare spots.
Something to Consider:
Do you have a bare spot in one of your garden beds from spring or early summer-blooming perennials’ dying foliage? Replant one of your pots in the garden!
If your hanging baskets are rootbound and water seeps right through, they can be planted in their entirety in a garden bed. The new space and soil will completely rejuvenate your worn-out plants, and provide a splash of colour to your perennial bed for the rest of the growing season. Dig a hole about 50% larger than the existing root ball. Carefully remove the plant from the basket, lightly breaking apart the rootbound edges. Soak the plant, fill the bottom and the edges of the hole with compost, fertilize after planting with a water-soluble fertilizer. The plant’s roots will quickly reach out to absorb the new nutrients and bounce back to life with a beautiful display of colour well into the fall.
Here’s to getting a second life out of those worn-out baskets and planters this summer! Happy Gardening!
