Gardening guru Monty Don has dished out his top tips for May, highlighting the 'Chelsea Chop' as a key task to ensure your garden bursts with extra blooms.
As green-fingered enthusiasts gear up for a weekend of horticultural bliss this bank holiday, they should mark their calendars for a crucial gardening chore later in the month.
The Chelsea Chop isn't a trendy haircut; it's a strategic pruning method named after the iconic Chelsea Flower Show, which is set to take place from May 21 to 24.
This technique is perfectly timed to coincide with the show, traditionally held in the third week of May.
Monty Don, the beloved host of Gardeners' World, took to his blog to shed light on the Chelsea Chop and its benefits. By adopting this approach, gardeners can prolong the blooming period of late-flowering herbaceous perennials such as heleniums, sedums, lysimachia, and solidago (Golden Rod).
In his detailed guide, Monty instructs how to achieve an extended display of flowers. For those with multiple clumps of these plants, he suggests cutting one clump "about halfway up the existing growth".
If dealing with a larger clump, he recommends reducing it by a third, reports the Daily Record.
Monty adds: "The result will be that the pruned section will produce side shoots bearing extra flowers which will bloom a few weeks later than the uncut growth and extend the display into autumn."
