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Show Some Plants Take Siestas During Midsummer Heat Peonies and Iris have midsummer dormancy period. Many garden plants, like gardeners, gar-deners, like to take a vacation In midsummer. They will slow down growth and enjoy a siesta during the hot days, which normally nor-mally are also dry. For spring blooming perennials, peren-nials, such as peonies, iris, oriental orien-tal poppies, this will be a period oi dormancy during which they may be divided and transplanted to new locations, where they can have a long period of growth before be-fore winter to become established. Delphiniums should be cut back to encourage fall flowering. As each spike finishes blooming cut It off just above the foliage. Let the leaves grow until new growth appears at the base of the plant, then cut all early stems down to the ground. Stimulate growth by a dose of plant food, either stirred into the soil, or dissolved in water and poured on, using a tablespoonful for each plant. Iris should be thinned out In the border during this rest period. The iris rhizomes which lie on the soil surface with roots extending ex-tending into the ground, tend to grow in a circle with the oldest portion in the center. This can be pulled up and discarded without disturbing the, newer growth around it. Peonies do not need dividing, nd should not be moved unless for a compelling reason. Oriental poppies have long tap roots and in midsummer their leaves disappear. dis-appear. If you wish to divide a plant, dig up the root and cut it into sections two or three inches in length each of which may be planted in a new location. Plants should remain undisturbed to develop de-velop their full beauty and should not be divided except to increase them. Roses do not rest so completely, but they bear few blossoms and nothing should be done to force blooms, but encourage a good crop of healthy foliage, which will usually insure an excellent crop of flowers during the autumn. au-tumn. Water regularly and do not prune but spray whenever damp weather threatens an attack of , black spot fungus. Annuals are rarely affected by the prevalent laziness. So long as they are watered adequately they keep working at their job of producing seeds for next year's i generation. You can delay this accomplishment by picking off i faded flowers and cutting back ; aging" stems and the plants will i keep growing and flowering. The ; display of annual flowers reaches i its peak in mid August, though many varieties improve in size and color brilliance in the cool i fall weather. |
