Читать книгу In Bloom - Clare Nolan - Страница 35

THE CUT-AND-COME-AGAINS

Harvesting flowers has the same effect as deadheading, but instead you are cutting them just before their moment of glory. If you keep picking, annuals like cosmos and zinnias will go on producing new flowers until they become so exhausted they stop flowering at the end of summer. When you are cutting, make sure that you leave some sideshoots intact – these will provide the next lot of flowers.

THE ONE-HIT WONDERS

Plants that produce only one flower per plant on a single stem, such as non-branching sunflowers and stocks, need to be planted in succession (around every two weeks) to extend their flowering period.

THE MULTIPLE BLOOMERS

These have a similar habit to the cut-and-come-agains, but they become exhausted sooner and will stop flowering well after a while. Larkspur and honeywort fall into this category. I do two or three sowings of these multiple bloomers to extend my harvest through the season.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’, Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Beaujolais Bonnets’, Nigella damascena ‘Double White’, Nicotiana langsdorffii, cosmos, Borago officinalis ‘Alba’, Campanula persicifolia var. alba, salvia viridis ‘pink’, and Cardiospermum halicacabum.