Feed Your Herbaceous Perennials

At the end of a strenuous day, you may need a boost of energy. Skipping breakfast or eating only a few snacks may find you a bit famished. What you really crave is a hardy meal loaded with some nutrients to recharge your batteries. Now, think of yourself as an herbaceous perennial. This plant goes from full dormancy with no top growth to generating a complete set of leaves and flowers. This requires an enormous amount of energy and nutrients.

Like you, it’s important your perennials build up an adequate reserve of carbohydrates to maintain its health. If you skip feeding your perennials before they go dormant at the end of the season, the plants can get weakened. This can reduce its winter hardiness, its resistance to disease and its vigor during the following year’s spring flush.

August is the perfect time to give your perennials a hardy shot of slow-release organic fertilizer to build its reserves for the dormant months ahead. Talk to your local nursery and find out what they recommend or try Plant-tone by Espoma. (http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/tones_plant.html) This is a favorite we use in our garden.

Don’t let your perennials go to bed without dinner. Now is the time to feed them a dose of nutrients to assure next season’s show of flowers.


In the words of Miss Piggy, the inspirational gardening thought of the day is, "Never eat more than you can lift."