"Sue" wrote in message
...

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...

One way to minimize the mildew is to cut the plants back by about half
when
the get about 3 feet tall - give or take. The mildew doesn't seem to
set
in
until they bloom, then they get ratty. Cutting them back not only keeps
them compact, but delays blooming. By delaying the blooms, you seem to
be
able to delay the onset of the mildew. You also have the advantage of
shifting the bloom time to a period when color is more scarce in the
perennial border.



Thank you for this post. Its kind of a dope slap for me, or ideally "
a
learning moment".

For a short time, I was part of a farmers market, and my particular niche
in the very small market was cut flower bunches. When I was cutting Bee
Balm bloom for sale, they bloomed more, spread more, and were much
stronger the following year.

When I stopped cutting/marketing/attending and let them "naturalize", they
simply went out of business entirely.

Same with Delphinium. Cut more blooms, get more blooms, stronger plants.
When I stopped cutting, I lost a lot of delphs.

Same with Hollyhock.

smack forehead. A plant's business is to set seed. Keep them working
at
their business.


Don't be too hard on yourself. This wasn't obvious to me, but something
that I learned from reading a book on perennials written by a woman from
central Ohio. She advocated cutting or pinching a lot of perennials to keep
them from flopping over, encourage growth, delay blooming, and to prevent
disease.