Nigella damascena 'Persian Jewels'

Anyone else been brave and done #theChelseaChop to their annuals?!! These #nigella I grew from seed last autumn and overwintered in friends greenhouse. Just brought them home and divided them into individual pots and given them a serious haircut! St #sarahraven recommends it so I do it!! #flowers #homegrown #cutflowers #simonsaysflowers

Done the sedum 👍

Yep cosmos reduced down to bush up ... I hope 🤞

I've never done this, are there things you should/shouldn't do and does the plant need to be a certain size/age before you do this (if you see what I mean) Simon, @Keely @icedance

Strictly the Chelsea chop is for tall growing perennials which have a tendency to flop i.e Sedums it makes them bushier and shorter but good to know that it also means slightly later flowering, most annuals and plants like Dahlias can have the tips nipped out to encourage bushy plants but always worth a google to check as not always the case for all , typically on my cosmos I wait for three leaf layers before I do .. hope that makes sense @titchyfra

It does @icedance but what do you class as "tall"

@icedance Sam do you know if I need to do it to the vipers bugloss I've grown from seed just the bedding ones? Never had them before so no idea 🤔

So Sedum, Phlox, Tall growing Asters and heleniums are a good example all later flowering plants as I said it does delay flowering so many people just select a few stems to encourage a good succession , I have to say I tend not to cut back as hard as half as flowering can be delayed too much for my liking .. I would leave your vipers bugloss to run its course as i think it has a single flowering stem so you'd risk losing that potential 👍 @keely ps sorry for hijacking your post Simon @titchyf

@icedance Thanks Sam. Sorry Simon all good advice that adds to yours 👍

Thanks @icedance I'll see if I'm brave enough

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelseaflowershow/10819883/To-Chelsea-chop-or-not.html this is a really good article @titchyfra 👍

It is good advice, Sam, I've copied it to my clipboard @icedance