As soon as you read this column I'd like for all of you to get ready and come out to the annual "First United Methodist Church Garden Walk". There are five gardens featured this year. Master Gardeners will be on hand from 10:30 to 11:30am to answer any questions you might have. You can purchase tickets at any of the garden sights. You know attending these garden walks is a great way to get new ideas for your own yards and gardens. Hope to see you all on the walk.

Well we went from cool temps to high alert temps! I don't know about you but my body has still been in the cool temp stage. Oh well, it is the start of summer for sure—in fact next week-end is July 4th! Because of the added moisture this spring—everything is growing like "weeds". Of course in order to keep having more blooms we must "deadhead", "pinch", and or be "cutting back". By applying a handful of special pruning techniques at the right time and to the right plant, this will increase the number or size of the blooms your perennials produce. Many perennials benefit from a combination of pruning methods. When delphiniums are in bloom, for example, deadheading, or removing faded blossoms, prolongs the display. When flowering stops, cutting back the stalks to the rosette of leaves at the base of each plant makes the plant look neater and often stimulates a second flowering. Removing individual flowers or flower clusters as they begin to droop and fade is an important chore, and not for appearance alone. This is called deadheading spent flowers.

Not all perennials require deadheading—the blossoms of linums, geraniums, and penstemons, for instance, fall by themselves. Others, such as Rudbeckia and "Autumn Joy" sedum, have ornamental seed heads that enliven a garden in the fall and winter. Some perennials, such as pincushion flower and Stokes' aster, may stop blooming if they aren't attended to promptly, and a hybrid perennial, allowing it to go to seed, may in time be crowed out by its inferior offspring.

For perennials with flowers at the tips of leafy stems, cut just below the fading flowers to stimulate new buds. For plants with leafy flower stems and a rosette of leaves at the base of the plant, cut back to just above the topmost unopened bud. If there are no buds, cut the stem off just above the foliage rosette. For perennials with bare stems, cut off close to the ground to encourage new growth.

Pinching is another technique that is needed to maintain your flowers. Perennials that bloom in mid-summer or later benefit from having their stem tips pinched back early in the growing season. In response to pinching, a stem produces several branches that together may yield double or even triple the number of blooms on an unpinched stem. The procedure also makes plants shorter and more compact—and thus less likely to need staking. Pinching carried out early in the growing season has little or no effect on a plant's blooming schedule.

If, however, you want to delay a plant's flowering, pinching in mid-summer is desirable. The technique is not appropriate for spring perennials because they don't have enough time to form new flower buds before their blooming season ends. Using your fingers, pinch off emergent stem tips just above the topmost unfurled leaves. The net result will be three or four new branches, smaller but more plentiful flowers, and a stockier plant. This technique works well with plants that can develop numerous stems and buds, and that look attractive when bushy.

Chrysanthemums can and should be pinched two or three times, up until the flower buds develop. Some perennials that should also be pinched are: Artemisia, aster, cornflower, Shasta daisy, heliopsis, catmint, Russia sage, summer phlox, and physostegia (false dragonhead).

Cutting back may be performed at two different times in a perennial's growing cycle, and for different reasons. In both cases, all of the stems should be reduced in height by one-third to one-half. Performed early in the growing season, cutting back, results in shorter plants that bloom later than usual. Carried out later in the season, as soon as a plants stops flowering, the shearing stimulates fresh new foliage and, in the case of catmint, bellflowers, and many other perennials, a second wave of bloom. Other perennials that do well by cutting back are common yarrow, chamomile, centranthus, coreopsis, phlox, Stokes' aster and veronica.

GARDEN TIPS: Stake tall or weak stemmed perennials. Monitor roses for black spot. Remove spotted or fallen leaves. Place amaryllis outdoors in shady spot; fertilize regularly. Continue to pinch chrysanthemums until mid-July. Repot cyclamen tubers before setting them out for the summer. Continue to gradually place houseplants outside for summer.

Herbs: thin basil—early June. Plant garlic, chives, lovage, dill and fennel to attract beneficial insects. Trees/shrubs: watch for bagworms feeding on many garden plants but especially juniper and arborvitae. Spray with BT if present.

Lawn: Mow and water as necessary. Raise mowing height as temperatures warm. Fertilize in early June if making four applications per year. Establish or renovate lawn with sod only. Continue postemergence treatment of weeds if necessary. Monitor for sod webworms, chinchbug, and greenbug. Treat as necessary. Continue to check for diseases.

Vegetables: Stake or cage tomatoes to direct growth. Plant beans and sweet corn for continuous harvest.

If you have any horticulture questions, call the U of I Extension office 345-7034. Volunteer
Master Gardeners are in the office on: Monday—2 to 4 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday—9-11 a.m.

This column is based on information and materials at the University of Illinois Extension office, located at 707 Windsor Road, Suite A., Charleston, 61920; phone 345-7034; or web site: www.extension.uiuc.edu/coles/