Haircut time - last year's flowers

Morning all

I decided to give my front flower bed a haircut this morning. The idea being to cut away last year's now dead growth ready for any new growth from the bottom.

Quick question though. How much old growth, if any should I leave? I.e. do I go all the way to the ground or leave a bit on?

In particular, we're talking marguerites and osteospurmums.

 

Morning Clueless

Surely you are not telling us that you have Marguerites and Osteopermums overwintering in your front flower bed. I don't like to take too much off them. I overwinter them indoors where they are evergreen as opposed to the herbaceous plants (ie ones where all the top growth dies) in my front garden. You will have lots of cutting material. :D

You are certainly right about time to cut back last year's growth. There is an old debate about whether to do it in the autumn or spring. The consensus seems to be that in the north, where it is colder, its a good idea to let it stay over the winter to give a bit of extra protection. But in the warmer south its tidier to do it in the autumn.

 

I find those lilac osteospermums develop long lank stems, so I'm always tempted to cut back hard. However, as they flower in May/ June, I'm not sure if they can regrow in time to do this after cutting back hard in Feb. I think I've compromised by cutting back hard after flowering - then they look like a dog's breakfast for a month or so. Can't win. I think my garden isn't light and open enough for them.

 

Peter,

As I live in the south ish, I leave all my plants for the wildlife to enjoy over winter before cutting back. There is a lot to be said about cutting back and I for one am going to leave the hacking until the birds have had their fill.
I have changed my ways over the years and have not gone out to cut back my plants as I did in the past, my kids have always said 'dad what will the birds have to eat if you cut all your plants down'. They knew where the bugs had hidden and the birds can pick them out.
Thus I have to be on the kids side and natures to have any chance of peace.

 

Yep, I left them out all winter. I did put a good inch on mushroom compost onto the soil they were in, to act as a nice warm blanket. Besides, the bed is right next to a south facing wall in a sheltered spot, so it doesn't really get that cold there. On close inspection, I managed to find brand new growth near the base on at least half of the plants, but to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost some, some did look pretty dead to me.

I like daisy like flowers, as does the wife, which is why the osteospermums and marguerites make up the bulk of the stock there. I'm not keen on the idea of having to dig plants up to overwinter them indoors. I don't really have the space to do that. So, for this year, is there anything similar looking that I can just leave out?

 

Hi Clueless, maybe mariagolds are right for you , though annual. Just throw the seeds on the ground , they surely grow. You don't even have to bother with covering them with soil..

As to cutting back dead stems and stalks - i have some mint (dunno what exactly) and there are always ladybugs hiding in there, even now. So I let the dead stems stay until april or so.