READER’S QUESTION

UP TO half my border perennials seem to have died — either from drought or the abnormally high temperatures recently. The whole garden looks awful and I’m tempted to dig up everything and start again with new plants in spring. What do you think?

Mrs L. Hardy, Leicestershire.

I THINK you’re over-reacting. It takes more than a hot, dry summer to kill most perennials. Now the weather has broken, look out for green shoots at the bases of dead-looking plants. I agree about cutting back dead growth. I’m doing that with my herbaceous ‘corpses’, hoping some might sprout again. Even if they don’t do so before winter, I’ll expect new shoots by spring. By mid-autumn, you’ll have a better idea of which plants have survived. october and March are good months for planting hardy perennials, so there’s nothing to be gained from uprooting dead-looking plants this soon.