Bachelor buttons

6 years ago

Had a gazillion plants this spring, self-sowed from last year. I thinned a lot of them out and the rest have been blooming wonderfully in all colors for weeks,. Now that the first flowers have faded & are setting seed, the plants all seem to be fading & willing to die a natural death. I had hoped for continuing bloom... If I cut them back 1/3 to 1/2 now, will it stimulate new, bushier growth, or should I have done that much earlier on? Is it time for the compost pile? Maybe I could just toss in more seed for color later, as these seem to grow fast.

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
plz add your location to your name ... on the members page ... if you plan on being around much ...

sowing seed this time of year .. is hard .. e.g. here in MI its been 90 plus degrees .. and that isnt seedling heat ... if you get my drift ... they probably wont be able to get enough root down.. to survive the heat.. unless you can mist them every few hours ...

its also why.. my beloved cornflowers.. have put out one flower .. and look rather anemic ... ill ignore them.. and see what happens ...

if you have the seed.. whats to lose ...

on ANYTHING you are thinking about cutting back .... just look down the stem.. and see if you can see small buds where leaves are attached.. if you see them.. they can be cut back ...

also.. since you have a ... and i quote.. a gazillion of them ... cut a few ... and see what happens .... in a week ... if there are dormant buds ... in a week they will extend far enough to really see them ...

ken
Michael Newman
6 years ago
Ken, I came across a post of yours regarding 100 foot hoses. The photos you uploaded from a website are now dead. Do you still have the photos? http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1963939/why-lug-hose
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
this is called hijacking a post mike .... all you had to do.. was reply to that post.. to bring it up the list ...

regardless ... i think i reposted the pix ... ken
erin sos (5b/6a) Central/West. Mass
6 years ago
What Ken said, that is sound advice, I love gardening advice that's practical like this! It took me a long to realize the same thing, that I could see the little buds lower down, and also to pick a few and experiment, see what happens.
erin sos (5b/6a) Central/West. Mass
6 years ago
Sorry weedlady93, I just realized I didn't really try to answer any of your questions, and this is one plant I have some experience with. I will say that last year I came on here with exactly the same question and after reading that cutting back to the little buds lower down could promote bushier growth/more blooms, I did exactly that. At that point it was August here I think and some of those plants did in fact bloom again but for the most part they just grew more. That's why I decided this year to pinch them off earlier in the growing season to try to promote bushier growth and a longer blooming season. I started cutting back a month ago at least and it seems like I'll have more blooms because of it. Whether or not that extends the bloom period is something I'll find out.
weedlady93
Original Author
6 years ago
Yes, I figure I should have cut them back by about a third, probably a month ago. Most of them are pretty scraggly and played out at this point. Being annuals, I guess I thought they'd have a longer bloom period, but that was too much of an assumption. :-) I'll be prepared next year! (With gardening, isn't it always "next year..."? LOL)