Perennial Care Guide

Perennial Care Guide   Watering: Check you garden weekly for water. If we are not receiving 1" of rain naturally a week, you will need to supply it. Do this by setting up soaker hoses or sprinklers around your perennials and allow the water to run for 1 ½-2 hours twice each week. Mulching:Wood and other organic mulches will decompose over time and it is essential to replenish the mulch every 1-3 years. Mulch provides insulation for the roots, aides in holding moisture, helps prevent weed germination, and provides nutrition as it decomposes. Deadheading: Deadheading is the practice of removing spent or finished flower heads. This should be don't after the flower-head has gone past its prime and no longer is beautiful. Depending on the variety of flower you may remove the entire stalk or just the individual head. By removing the spent flowers the plant does not go into a reproductive cycle. This does not allow seed production so that it can put its energy into producing more flowers. Staking: Staking is suggested for plant material with tall flower stalks and other structures. This can be achieved by using branches, bamboo sticks, dowels, or any other structure that can hold the plant up. Some varieties that may require this are Shasta Daisy, Peonies, Delphinium, etc.   Fertilizing: Fertilizing is a good thing to do because it can and will improve plant vigor. This will in turn give you more flowers to enjoy and for a longer period of time. You can fertilize with a product like "Miracle-Gro" which is an instant fertilizer. This will fertilize only for a short period of time. The other option would be to uses a slow release fertilizer. This will fertilize with each watering and it is applied in early spring. Some that you could use are, Osmocote or a general use fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 13-13-13. The slow release fertilizers will save you time because they are usually only applied twice a year opposed to an instant fertilizer which only lasts about 7-10 days. Do check the package for accurate application rates.