When do you cut back... lavender, thmye, irises

15 years ago

I hate cutting plants back -- it just seems like it's sending the wrong message to the gardening gods.

But some things, like the irises, are looking mighty peaked in this mid-August heat. And my lavender and thyme have been almost too succesful since sown two years ago -- there are long bare "trunks" where they grow over each other and themselves.

When do you, or do you cut these back in the Ohio area?

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Comments (3)

mike_g_
15 years ago
Only remove dead or browning leaves on iris. Never cut back green leaves. These leaves are storing for next years bloom.

Mike G
diggerb2
15 years ago
hi alison,

if i'm lifting, dividing, and cleaning out iris (an august chore if there ever was one) i usually trim back the fans then. mostly to make it easier on the plants' root systems
that have been disrupted. i also trim back my siberian
iris in august to neaten up my flower beds. but the later in the year you do it the better it is for the plnats since the leaves are making food for storage. (but i usually mow my day lilies when they look 'ratty'-- nothing kills them)

as for thyme, sage, & lavender, you need to wait until spring
before trimming them back-- and only to remove winter kill and to shape them up (besides your supposed to be clipping them all season long as you cook). every time i do it in the fall i kill my plants. you have to see where the new grow is coming from before youi trim.

Bill
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I am in the "yes" camp in answer to this question -- fall or spring, whatever suits your schedule and thevagaries of weather, time availability, etc. I have usually done late winter (not spring...) cleanup, usually about late February. I personally think it is a matter of personal taste and time availability and weather. Though I am not much of a fan of the "dead brown grass winter garden" (apologies to those out there who love it....), I DO think that the mixed or perennial border can be very lovely in November before the snows hit. So I do want to leave the border standing through that month. If December isn't too cold and I have the time I have cut back then. Most of the time not For me, the best time to cut things back is on that rare day in February when the weather warms up and it might even be sunny. A little taste of spring. Great to work out in the garden. Garden chores almost seem welcome. Main thing to remember I think is that if you have lots of bulbs in your borders, you want to get the cutback completed before they start to emerge. Not good to tromp on new bulb foliage.
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It sounds like relations with your brother aren't so great, either, or else he has a bad conscience about his wife's behavior. For the sake of family peace, I'd be tactful, but I'd be clear and firm: express a willingness to share cuttings and explain how to get them to root, but make it clear that your sister-in-law is not to take cuttings without your permission, so that she doesn't damage rare and vulnerable plants. It might help if you explain that these roses didn't come for the nearest big box store, as lagomorphmom said. If you can work in an implication that she'll have a better garden in the long run if she has you as a friend and gardening ally rather than as an enemy, so much the better, but unfortunately a lot of people don't understand this line of reasoning. Good luck!! Melissa
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I guess the only reason I've always trimmed them back is because it makes the flowerbeds look cleaner. I do tend to plant bulbs and other plants along with my irises. Right now I have fall crocus and naked ladies blooming in the beds. The beds also have daffodils planted all throughout them. I try to keep something blooming in the beds year round. It doesn't always work out the way I want it to. I was surprised to see the crocs and ladies blooming. It would not have surprised me if they had drowned this spring too. I've been very busy this past week planting everything and getting the beds back into shape. I was working around a couple of the Wild Cherokee Roses and I lost the battle. Those little boogers will hurt you before you know it. I looked up Paw Paws Everlasting metal signs and ordered them. They just came in the mail today. Now the work really begins. Marking everyone of those plants (grin)and keeping better records. I've also started working on a Dykes List that I have. (smile) I don't have very many of them Lee. How in the world did you collect all of yours in just a matter of a few years? Happy Gardening Ya'll, Marian
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Thank you Darlene! Everything I've read has said to take the new tender growth, so that's interesting. I will try taking some more hardened growth next... I'll try anything at this point. It looks like, out of at least 28 cuttings, I may have one survivor holding on... so... progress? Not exactly the 90% success rate that everyone talks about :( Ultimately, I'm hoping for about 4 or 5 Lavender Cotton plants to fill in one space of my garden and 4 more of my Munstead Lavender to finish out a small hedge. Definitely too hot to try and root them outside right now - though I did try it for some of the lavender cotton (it was doomed from the start). I've been hoping that starting indoors will have more success - I'm also going to try a lighter seed starting mix next instead of the potting soil. I will try a few out in the garden soil this fall to see how they do. I've got a few more sheltered places in the garden where they may survive. When they do finally root outside, do you dig them up and move them, or are you rooting them in small pots outside that can be moved around?
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alison
Original Author
15 years ago
I've been trying to keep on top of removing the dying foliage on the iris. It seems they mat down around the roots and collect debris, and I'm paranoid about getting any kind of rhizome fungus.

I'll wait till it's a bit colder to cut the foliage into fans, but I definitnely want to remember to do it this year. I haven't in years past, and the leaves have trapped every tree leaf in a block radius -- leaving a soggy mess on the iris rhizomes all winter long!

I've never really been much for cutting the herbs, Bill, but plants have stretched out and grown over the others, like waves on the beach. Unfortunately (especially with the lavender) these leads to long, grey, dead looking stems, with a fringe of green at the top.

I'm experimenting; cutting some back severely, some just a little, some not at all. Advice and experiments are all we have to go one as gardeners, isn't it?

Thanls for the advice!

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When do you cut back... lavender, thmye, irises

Comments (3)

mike_g_

diggerb2

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When do you cut back... lavender, thmye, irises

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mike_g_

diggerb2

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