This flower has been blooming in my garden for a good month now. It is a cheerful, sunny spot in the fall garden. However, I am struggling to keep it compact and shrubby.
I have this daisy, also called the Montauk Daisy in two spots: one part sun, one full sun. Both spots get decent moisture. Last year both were in part sun. I tried pruning them back in May in order to make it bushier and fuller. Alas, by October I had barely a bloom. The problem may not have been when I cut it back however. This site indicates that one should prune it by half in mid-summer. I wasn't sure what to do, so I moved one to a full sun spot and did not prune either.
This year, lots of blooms on the full sun daisy, but leggy and sprawling. And on the part sun daisy? Nothing ... and leggy. This week I am moving the part sun daisy into full sun and I will cut both back by 1/2 in midsummer. I want these to become small semi-evergreen shrubs in the perennial bed.
For a nice round-up of October flowers, check out Adrian Higgins' article in today's Washington Post. I think I'm going to pop by the garden store to buy some asters!
3 comments:
Pinching back really does make a difference with what might be leggy plants .. I do it a lot and I find it really helps !
Joy
Adorable!! These are my most favorite flowers.
How nice that you are in Richmond. I am as well. I was searching for information on the nippon daisy and got to your blog. I bought one at the Lewis Ginter garden sale this spring, planted it in a sunny spot and watched it take off. Now I don't know what to do over the winter. Prune it back now or wait till next spring. Do you have any idea?
Pam
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