That is early! My Purple Dome is the last plant to flower - usually in mid October or even a bit later. This year is screwed up. A lot of my late Sedums are getting ready to bloom too, but at the same time things that should be in full bloom aren't. I can always count on mid July to be the peak blooming season for my garden, but I am no where near that this year.

Kevin

My asters and Chrysanthemums always bloom too early if I don't cut them back at least once. I really planted them for fall display, so I try to get to cutting them back in about the third week of June for late September, early October bloom.

I have Professor Kippenburg Dwarf Aster which starts to bloom about this time of summer if I dont cut it back This particular plant spreads like crazy in my yard so I have patches of it in various places around the yard. One question--is it too late to cut back those plants that have not yet bloomed if I want to delay the bloom until fall? It seems to bounce back really fast after cutting it back. Last year's peak bloom was in early September. I cant remember how late I cut it back last year.

Gumneck, I can't really answer that question for you, but I will say that I am habitually late with EVERYTHING in the garden, chore-wise. So for me to be cutting back asters now (or even later) is not unusual for me, and things usually do still bloom for me.

Maybe that's why I expect this aster to bloom in late September or October - because I usually do cut it back in July instead of June. But still, I've never seen any aster of mine bloom in mid-July! As a matter of fact, I often don't even get around to cutting back, and they still don't bloom till fall, in my (admittedly rather hazy) recollection

PM2, what do you mean by "too early"? Certainly not July, right? :)

Dee

I read an article over the winter that you should use July 4th as a cut off date for cutting them back if you want Fall bloom. I expect if you cut it back now, you may risk that it won't bloom before a frost? I guess it just depends on how late our frost will be this year. Dee seems to have had good luck with it.

Dee, I've had chrysanthemums budding up and blooming in the summer in a couple of years when I didn't cut them back. And when they bloom without cutting they are usually pretty tall and floppy. I am not so great with my memory either, but I know the rest of the summer garden was at it's peak and by the time the fall came around, the mums and asters were already past. Not what I wanted at all. That was why I looked it up a couple of winters ago. Last year and this year, I managed to cut them back on time and I was much happier with them. Two years ago I didn't cut my mums in the back where they only get afternoon sun for 4 hrs and they were long and leggy and flopped onto the ground when they bloomed. A very ugly effect especially with a white mum. :-)

Dee, I just found my photo of my mums from last year. The date of this photo was October 20th. I cut my mums back on July 4th last year and I thought that was still a little later than I wanted them to bloom. That's why I cut them back 2 weeks earlier this year. So I will see this year, if it is better timing, but then again the weather has been so unusual, maybe I can't go by this year any way.

My question is not when to cut back (I know when I SHOULD, and when I DO, which are usually two different things entirely, lol) but my question is, should this aster be blooming in MID-JULY without it having been cut back?

LIke I said, there are times when I don't get around to cutting (more often than not, admittedly!) and I don't recall asters ever blooming THIS early. September, maybe, but mid-July? I think it's nuts!

:)
Dee

By the way, PM2, that's a very pretty grouping - is that some kind of euphorbia next to the mum?

You must REALLY cut yours back to keep them that short.

In a friend's garden, last year I was very good about cutting back her mums, but they just kept putting out buds, and putting out buds, all within a week of cutting back. I must have cut those things back weekly through to August, probably late August. What a pain in the neck. This year, we just decided to let them do their thing. Sure enough, they are in bud now, showing color, and we figure, hey, they'll look good in bloom now and we'll figure out something else for fall color. We just can't keep fighting these particular mums!

But July blooming asters - that's completely new to me!

Dee

Dee, Sorry, I don't have Purple Dome, so I have no experience with it to know if it is normal for it to start blooming in July. It is a very pretty aster, do you enjoy it and does it perform for you?

I don't repeat cut the mums, because it's just an extra thing to do that I don't need. I wait until the end of June and then cut them once. I found one mum in the back that I missed this morning and it was over 2 feet tall and had buds on the tips, but not close to opening, so I am safe to wait for end of June to trim them without fear they will bloom before I cut them. That might be different for the variety you have.

I cut them back leaving the lower two sets of leaves. This year I had help cutting them back and trying to speed it up, I told them to take handfuls and cut them, rather than one stem at a time. When I came back to look at it, the entire middle of the plant had bare stems with no leaves. But now they are producing new leaves and are going to fill in just fine.

Yes, that is Euphorbia amygdaloides purpurea next to the orange mum. Unfortunately, it didn't make it through last winter and now I have a bare spot there that I haven't figured out what to do with yet. Too bad, I really liked that combination and would have added more.

I have asters that are single stems very leggy and flowers about 2 inches wide, if I cut them will they grow more stems and bloom again. It's June in Portland, Oregon

Are they annual or perennial asters? Annuals should bloom all summer. Perennials might bloom again, might not.

Martha