REFRESH PLANTS FOR SUMMER
Grab your secateurs to give tired plants a quick tidy up
Some late spring and early summerflowering plants will start to look a little rough around the edges during July. The foliage will look tired and have sprawled outwards leaving a bare centre, the flowers will be fading and the plants may have flopped onto a path where they’re becoming a nuisance. Mildew can also be a problem in dry summers for plants such as centaurea. Be bold and cut them back to just above the ground. Give the plants a water and a liquid seaweed feed, and the bare patch will, within a couple of weeks, be replaced with fresh foliage. There might even be a second f lush of f lowers in late summer or early autumn.