Re: latest bloomer

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On Tue, 08 Aug 2000 23:38:35 EDT Dee Ann Scheller <dee.ann.scheller@juno.com> writes:
> In making my garden tour today I noticed that the Chelone (turtles
> head)
> has finally reached full bloom.  have any others noticed theirs
> blooming?

My turtlehead started blooming last week.  It always starts blooming about the same time as Hosta plantaginea, and they look good together.

 

 

> I have a question maybe some one can answer for me even though it
> is
> slightly off topic.  One of my daughters gifted me with 2 butterfly
> bushes for mothers day.  I have them at the far end of one of my
> perennial beds with a bird bath between.  Now the questions is "is
> it
> necessary to dead head these bushes in order to prolong the
> blooming
> season?"  I have been doing so and they continue to bloom but just
> maybe
> I am wasting my time and they would bloom with out my help.

 

I trim spent blooms off my butterfly bushes for the first two or three flushes, more because they're unattractive and I want to keep seedling production in check than to encourage more blooms.  I haven't noticed any diminished blooming when not deadheaded, though.  The main reason I stop dead-heading is because the blooms get smaller and more numerous as the season progresses. 

 

Dean Sliger

Warren, Michigan, USA

Zone 6B