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Sweet William Question

16 years ago

My winter sown sweet william of winter 2006 bloomed beautifully this past summer. I did not dead head them after they bloomed. Now the bottom of the plant is beautiful and green and the top is dead. Is this the time to cut the top off for a neater looking bed, or would it be best to leave it on until spring? The dead part has seeds even though I collect a lot in late summer. Thanks so much for your help.

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Comments (5)

trudi_d
16 years ago
I tidy up mine before winter, then when I see new growth in spring I recut them to remove any winter-kill. When you cut off the parts with seeds you can either sprinkle the seeda about now or save them to WS later.

T
bakemom_gw
16 years ago
Mine are biennial. I collect the seeds and sprinkle and re-sow like Trudi suggests. For me, they're over.
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vera_eastern_wa
16 years ago
For me they have been back after flowering...this is the 2nd year bloom for them, but them I haven't allowed them to set seed. If I did they would otherwise be biennial.

Vera
mary_max
Original Author
16 years ago
Interesting! Well I cleaned them up and they are green and healthy looking. Very nice actually for this time of year. Now does this mean they will bloom next year again? Or do I just have to wait and see?
vera_eastern_wa
16 years ago
After going to seed most likely not.
It would be interesting to know if they still come back tho. When I gave some of my original wintersown seedlings to my neighbor hers did not come back after setting seeds. There are several biennials that can be tricked into behaving as a perennial and there are some plants which depending on the climate can be short lived perennials or biennials.
For me my Sweet William came back bigger and better then the first bloom season...
June 7th...
{{gwi:341340}}
Although this pic was taken on April 13th, this is exactly how it looked from fall thru winter...
{{gwi:366643}}

Vera

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