Monty Don shares 3 plants to prune in September so they will be ‘packed with flowers’
September is a busy month in the garden with a variety of tasks to be done - pruning being one of them. Monty Don has shared three common plants that need attention now.
Pruning plants can have a significant impact on their growth in the year ahead. Pruning is essential for maintaining plant health, vigour, and balance, as well as preventing larger species from taking over the garden.
Monty Don, in his latest gardening blog update, has divulged the key plants that require pruning in September, among other vital gardening tasks for the month. Before embarking on pruning the plants Monty recommends, gardeners must ensure their secateurs are clean and sharp. Blunt or damaged blades can inflict uneven cuts, potentially harming the plant and increasing the risk of infection.
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1. Lavender
According to the gardening guru, lavender must be “pruned every year” to “avoid woody, leggy plants”. He advises not to wait until seed heads form or flowers brown, as early pruning maximises regrowth time before winter.
Trim aggressively to achieve a compact shape, but leave some new shoots on each stem, as lavender may not sprout again from bare wood.
These fresh shoots will “grow fast and provide an attractive and healthy cover”, safeguarding the plant during winter and laying the groundwork for next year's blooms.
2. Shrub roses
Shrub roses are renowned for their resilience and profusion of blooms from summer into autumn. By pruning your roses, you’re paving the way for more vigorous growth and a superior flowering season next year.
For those who might be apprehensive about pruning roses, there’s no need to worry, particularly when it comes to varieties like gallicas, English roses, albas, or hybrid perpetuals. Monty suggested that these types are “best simply trimmed with shears any time this month”, making them perfect for a more naturalistic garden setting, such as a wild garden or a less formal cottage garden.
The gardener recommended: “Do not worry about the position or angle of the cuts, but clip away all long and straggly shoots as though you were trimming a hedge. Leave a compact, slightly domed bush that is about two-thirds of its former size.”
He further stated: "In March, when you can see clearly without any foliage, you can inspect the shrub to remove any damaged or rubbing stems, but a simple shear in September is enough to keep it healthy and packed with flowers next year.”
3. Raspberries
For summer-fruiting raspberries, it's time to cut down the old brown canes to ground level, leaving the vibrant new green canes intact. The 70-year-old expert notes that these new canes will produce next summer's fruit and maintain the plant’s “healthiness”.
Gardeners are advised to trim these down to the six strongest shoots, eliminating all smaller or awkwardly positioned growth. The remaining canes will need to be securely held for the next year; hence, summer raspberries are “best grown” against a permanent system of support.
Monty noted that he ties the canes with twine to parallel wires firmly fixed between sturdy posts, weaving around them and spreading them out evenly as he works along the wire at each level. He added: “It is important that it is really secure as winter winds can catch and damage them.”
If left unchecked, these plants can become overcrowded, resulting in smaller fruits and an encroachment of their allocated space. Moreover, the stems that have borne fruit will begin to lose their vigour over time and eventually die off.
