We are lucky at Winterthur to be surrounded by so many great public gardens. Winterthur is just a few minutes from Longwood Gardens and Mt. Cuba—two spectacular gardens. Another 20 gardens offering a wide range of styles and educational programming are within an hour from us. Because of this rich horticultural community, the spring calendar is thick with plant sales and other events to pique the interests of gardeners. One of the best resources for planning weekend gardening forays is the Greater Philadelphia Gardens Web site. This site offers a calendar of events, basic descriptions of gardens, and periodic gardening columns. Managed by former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, Denise Cowie, the GPG Web site is filled with solid information and informative tidbits.
I have a question about monkshood (aconite)–last fall i planted several of them in my garden and they looked great. This spring, they are already about 2 1/2 feet high and i’m worried they might be getting too leggy. Should i be pinching them back now, or just let nature take its course? Thanks.
Monkshood is a summer flowering perennial. A trick you can use with monkshood, asters, and other summer flowering perennials (and some summer flowering shrubs) is to cut them back in late spring. This reduces their size but still allows them time to flower. I try not to cut back any later than June while other gardeners use the size of the plant as a guide. Now would be a good time to cut your monkshood back – you should probably do it when it is between 1′ and 2′ tall. If there are some low spikes beginning to form on the plant I would try and keep those intact. If you do this now, the plant should be more compact and bushy when it comes into flower.
Great! Thanks for the tip!