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| I've read that it's good to shear back Pulmonaria after it blooms to encourage new growth and a compact habit. But how exactly do I shear it? Do I trim off individual leaves, cut all the leaves off by half, only cut off the blossom stems, or what?
This is one of those things that is probably obvious to all but new gardeners like me! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, May 12, 11 at 17:31
| do not think of shearing as in sheep shearing.. or a hair cut. .. take a good pair of pruning shears [even good scissors.. ] ... and go cut off the dead flowers... just the flower ... and look for tiny buds on the stalk.. those will trigger growth if done properly ... odds are.. on many plants.. it will flower again.. though lesser .. the plant has ONLY ONE goal in life.. procreation.. it has to flower.. to set the seed ... to live on thru its children ... once it 'sets' seeds .. it will not flower again.. hormone changes and all [seriously] ... so by taking away the seed ... it will try to flower again ... to save its progeny ... now.. will you ever forget about what dead-heading is.. and why we do it.. lol ... its very simplistic.. but perhaps.. memorable ... lol .. NEVER cut leaves.. they are not sheep .. got that part ... ken |
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| Thanks, Ken. I understand dead-heading. So is that all I'm supposed to do? I had the impression I was also supposed to cut back the foliage to keep the plants from getting straggly. (I wasn't expecting it to rebloom after May. Will it?) |
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| Ken, Shearing in this instance does indeed mean the leaves. Cutting the blooms off of pulmonaria will not induce more blooms. Mary, |
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| There are plants that benefit from foliage shearing after blooming. Not sure about pulmonaria, but I *always* shear my Geranium magnificum down to the ground (yes, to the ground) immediately after flowering - within two weeks they fill out to lush mounds of foliage that stay beautiful and neat all season. Same with catmint - without shearing it's a sprawly mess, while shearing keeps it in bounds. Of course, not all plants will tolerate foliage shearing - is dependent upon the plant. |
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| I shear all my Pulmonaria and within a few weeks they fill out with their beautiful foliage. |
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| Agreed, lots of plants benefit from get cut right back after blooming (or ever without) and then recover with nice, lush, fresh foliage that looks good for the rest of the season and may even induce another round of (more sparse) bloom. Silver Mound artemsia and variegated comfrey are two that come to mind. As for lungwort, I sometimes cut some of them back but they often don't need it for me, as they look fine all season. But they can certainly handle it and if they look ratty, have at it. They will not be hurt. I like lunwort a lot, especially in masses (almost as a groundcover) so I am always careful to let mine go to seed, so that I will have lots more plants. |
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- Posted by buyorsell888 Zone 8 Portland OR (My Page) on Fri, May 13, 11 at 12:20
| I've never sheared my pulmonaria but have tried to weed out the ones that get powdery mildew every year. I'll try shearing any that get ratty this year and see. |
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