 No More Meatballs! It is definitely too hot to be outside in the garden, but it is calling its siren song to me – “I have weeds, I need deadheading, I need trimming....” I pick the morning hours and late afternoon to do my chores. Newly planted perennials need more water than their more established mates and even a few rain showers cannot keep things from drying out and wilting in the intense heat. And there is pruning. I have put it off long enough. I have Virburnum oderatissimum or Sweet Viburnum that has been trimmed by the mow and blow guys into giant meatballs. I hate it. I prune three giant paper bags of cuttings to be composted. I prune from the inside out to open up the shrub and give it air flow. I prune up the bottom so that there are no hiding places for critters. I also have taken a webinar on the English Garden Designer, John Brookes, and am inspired to shape the shrubs to echo the trees across the marsh. No more meatballs! Speaking of webinars -- there is a great site for free Garden Talks as well as to attend zoom webinars: http://www.gardenmasterclass.org. The free Talks are every Thursday at 1:00PM EDT. The webinars are on various days and times and there is a cost to “attend” on zoom, but they are well worth it. Where else can you meet garden designers, plantspeople, and gardeners from around the world? Highly recommended. In the heat, it is time to trim back perennials that are starting to look "tatty." It will not hurt them and they will be all the better off. Deadheading is a huge job right now. If the plant is a self seeder or non-clonal (spreads by seeds) I cut the flower heads off and let them fall where they will or scatter them where I want new plants. I have so many Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) that I did not plant. Of course, since they are non-clonal they are not true to their parents, but that adds an element of surprise!  I only started with three pink Coneflowers!  I did not plant those Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta). They are volunteers.
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