With the Chelsea flower show this month it is the ideal time to do the ‘Chelsea Chop’ which is a way of shortening perennials that can become ‘leggy’. It promotes smaller, later, but increased quantity of flowers. You can try it on lots of plants – i.e. Sedums, Rudbeckias, Echinaceas, Heleniums and Asters. You could also cut back half the stems and leave the other half, thus lengthening the flowering display – have a go, it just takes a bit of confidence.

This is a good time to sort out your long-term pots in the garden. Re-pot into slightly larger pots (don’t put directly into huge pots from small ones as the plants suffer). Do not use pots that curve inwards at the top for these long-term plantings as they are next to impossible to remove the rootball without breaking the vessel. The very big pots are impractical to empty and redo, so with these you can scrape off 10cm or so of soil and top up with fresh soil – something like John Innes No.3. Use slow release plant food pellets to make sure the plant is being fed (refer to the instructions on the packets as to the number needed).

‘Prune early flowering shrubs’
Prune early summer flowering shrubs as soon as flowering has finished – things like Philadelphus (mock orange), Spiraea, Deutzia and Ribes (ornamental currants). Take out one in three of the oldest stems to the ground and reduce the rest by a third. Try and open out the shrub to let the air get to the centre by removing twiggy growth which is growing inwards. After pruning, fork in a couple of handfuls of a balanced fertiliser like Growmore, water well and mulch with some compost to keep the soil moist. These shrubs will repay you with more flowers the following year. Trim the rockery staples – such as alyssum, aubretia and other spreading prostrate plants that have flowered in spring – with shears to keep them from getting untidy. Derby Day is the traditional time of year to give Box a first trim – although obviously it varies from area to area – but by 7th June the risk of frost is unlikely in Britain. Don’t cut it in hot sunshine as the leaves will get scorched.