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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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Experimenting with the Chelsea Chop

If you watch much British gardening shows (well, that is bascially all we have, right?), you probably are familiar with the "Chelsea Chop". This is the practice of cutting back tall, late-blooming perennials to reduce size and prolong bloom. I've never tried this and tend to let plants do what they do. Until now that is.

The Joe Pye weed has to be the largest perennial I've ever grown. And it just keeps getting taller. Here it is last year -



I am guessing that it is 7 - 8 ft. tall. Most of the plants behind it are large shrubs and trees but Joe Pye is so tall that I didn't think we would ever enjoy the blooms of the newly planted elderberry. This year, Joe is quickly approaching the 6 ft. mark.



That is, until a few days ago when the Chelsea Chop was employed. This can be done by a third or by half. We cut it back by half. Now it looks like this -




You can cut the entire plant back (like we did) or you can cut back just a portion of the canes. This would allow a prolonged bloom with the uncut stalks blooming as usual and the shortened ones blooming later.

It will be interested to see what becomes of this. Stay tuned!

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Comments

  1. Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax!June 13, 2020 at 6:40 AM

    That's quite a dramatic difference. You are very brave. I hope it works.

    ReplyDelete
  2. chavlinessJune 13, 2020 at 8:25 AM

    I tend to do this with Aster, that often gets too tall for my liking and tend to plop over with autumn rains and winds. I remove a third off the top, and get shorter but fuller blooms.
    You must submit another photo of this eager shrub, once it starts blooming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phillip OliverJune 13, 2020 at 6:00 PM

      Asters was one of the plants that was mentioned as a good candidate.

      Delete
  3. C. C.June 13, 2020 at 9:19 AM

    Beautiful plant. Do you know if the cut stalks will multiply/branch off? Just this morning I cut back my returning pineapple sage, which I *love*, but it gets so leggy late in the season. I'm hoping it will not only stay neat but have more branches and flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AaronJune 13, 2020 at 1:23 PM

    Look forward to seeing how it turns out.

    I've been doing something similar this year with some of my perennials -- none that get that tall -- including some goldenrod and Coreopsis pubescens. The Coreopsis is just starting to bloom now so I'm looking forward to seeing whether I like the effect.

    (I think cutting in layers or doing the Chelsea Chop can also increase the number of flowers, since often the cut stem will branch. I've done that quite successfully in the past with the 'standing cypress' wildflower, for instance.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lisa at GreenbowJune 13, 2020 at 5:28 PM

    You must have the straight species. It is a beauty for sure. It will do just fine no doubt. Can't wait to see it when it blooms. I chopped my sedums due to their floppy nature. They aren't in full sun unfortunately. It isn't their fault. The chop does help.

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  6. Hoover BooJune 13, 2020 at 7:02 PM

    Either way that's a beautiful scene, with the birdhouse and the bit of natural fencing as accent to the shrubbery.

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  7. TracyJune 14, 2020 at 3:53 AM

    I chop asters and Autumn Joy sedum so they don't flop. I also thin asters and phlox to reduce powdery mildew.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Phillip OliverJune 14, 2020 at 8:59 AM

      Tracy, that reminds me to do that to my sedum! Thanks

      Delete
  8. AnonymousAugust 30, 2023 at 12:48 PM

    Would love to have an update! How did they do?

    ReplyDelete
  9. ConnieAugust 28, 2025 at 8:39 PM

    I Chelsea Chop the outer ring of my large Culver's Root plant. The shorter plants help keep the tall inner section from flopping over and this year bloomed right when the inner section was finished. The bumblebees were very pleased!

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