Keep on top of summer pruning

Cut back low-growing perennials that have flowered and collapsed into the border, leaving the centre of the plant bare and unsightly. Alchemilla, centaurea and geraniums will shoot videos and get again within a couple of weeks, providing more foliage and flowers. Summer pruning trains shapes and encourages flowering wood, so snipping the long shoots of wisteria and wall-trained fruit is part of their maintenance. Early summer-flowering shrubs like philadelphus and weigela can also be thinned out now to improve flowering for next year.