The Chelsea Chop

This is a technique that you can use on some of your perennials to delay or extend the flowering period and also create sturdier plants that need less staking. The right time to do it is around the end of May when the Chelsea Flower Show takes place – hence the name. To delay flowering, simply cut the plants back by half (the closer you do this to their normal flowering time the longer the delay). Alternatively if you have several of the same plant you can cut some back and leave others untrimmed to stagger the flowering period – and similarly if you reduce the height of the front half of a plant it will flower over a longer period.

Here’s a quick guide to The Chelsea Chop :

Perennials that respond well to The Chelsea Chop :

• phlox
• sedum
• rudbeckia
• helenium
• echinacea
• anthemis