THE secret of a good garden is keeping the place fresh, tidy and new looking all through summer into autumn.
This is easy enough in spring, when nature provides a quick succession of growth and of flower colour, but in summer the garden requires more effort. Dead heads, faded flowers and dying foliage must be cut away, and keep an ever anxious eye on plants which may need a little help or support in staying erect. There is always another candidate for a cane or a prop to prevent it flopping.
Then there is the business of watering and feeding, particularly plants in pots and containers. To keep a constant succession of flowers coming on we need to dead head roses, petunias, sweet pea, etc. Annuals and bedding can be demanding in this respect but they will reward us for months and months.
Once flowering items like the flamboyant oriental poppies can have their stems cut back and the leaves cut away when flowering is over. The gap caused by this can be filled with annuals. Be mindful other herbaceous plants will not put up with this treatment and their foliage must be left to fade away in autumn.