Story and photographs by Rebecca Broyles

At the beginning you can’t get enough of each other, you and your new love. You spend every possible hour gazing, touching, breathing in that heavenly scent. No demand is too far fetched, no exertion too arduous.

Over the months, perhaps the flame dies to a pleasant glow. Romance slips into complacency. You’re happy to attend to basic needs, and you like each other fine. It’s just that you have other things to do, and you know each other well enough that there’s no longer a consuming urge to be together. You don’t even notice appearance much any more. You may not realize there’s a general air of weariness.

You can reignite your passion, you know. With just a little effort, you can fall in love all over again, coaxing the flowers that excited you so much in May back to radiance which lasts into October.

This late in the season it might unnerve you to light into your plantings with the shears, but when they look unkempt and scrappy, it’s the first step to revitalization. Stalling will prolong the agony. As the Nike ads say, “Just do it.”

If it’s only a few stringy branches, prune those back to the center of the plant. Leave two or three nodes, places where leaves are (or used to be) attached, so that fresh branches can form there.

When a whole plant is unkempt, unenthusiastic, or scraggly, imagine you’ve placed a bowl over it and clip off anything that would be sticking out from underneath the bowl. For a few days it might look like a too-close haircut, but with sensible care, the plant will snap out of it quickly. In a couple of weeks you’ll be patting yourself on the back for your courage.

Next, think about water. Whether in a container or in the ground, a plant needs occasional thorough soakings rather than frequent light sprinkles. Deep watering encourages long, strong, well developed roots that can tolerate a little dryness. Brief daily sprays over the top produce shallow, weak roots that won’t support a stressed plant.

Water container plants until it drains out the bottom. To know when to water next, scratch into the top inch of soil. If it’s moist, wait. Once the top inch is dry, soak it again.
A plant in the ground should have an inch of water a week. Try to water evenly, regularly. When there hasn’t been a drenching rain in five to seven days , scratch a couple of inches into the soil. If it’s dry, set your hose to a gentle trickle so it can soak into the ground around the plant instead of running off and being wasted.

When possible, avoid watering in the evening. By doing it earlier in the day you give the plants time to absorb the moisture. Any time you must water late, make a special effort to keep the foliage dry to help prevent rot and mildew.

By now your plants should be in full growth, filling their spaces in the garden, crowding their containers, depleting the soil of nutrients. If you haven’t been feeding, start. If you’ve been feeding every other week, step it up to once a week. It won’t happen overnight, but within a couple of weeks you will be amazed at the difference. As well as beginning to grow again, they will develop greener, healthier color and set new flushes of blooms.

Use any reputable water soluble fertilizer mixed according to package directions. The package will list three numbers, like 10-10-10 or 15-30-15. They let you know how the nutrients are balanced. First is nitrogen content. Nitrogen encourages leaf and root growth and vigor. The second is phosphorous, which promotes disease resistance and induces fruiting and flowering. Third, potassium, also known as potash. It helps regulate water loss in the leaves and influences drought tolerance. Most brands suggest possible uses for each formulation. If you want to promote more flowering, look for high-middle-number fertilizers. Often labeled as “blossom boosters,” they encourage plenty of blooms and excellent color.

As well as pouring it into the soil, you can put water soluble fertilizer into a sprayer and swoosh it across the foliage for quick, safe absorption directly through the leaves. Since you’ll burn the leaves if the sun shines on them while they’re wet with the fertilizer spray, wait until your plant is in the shade.

Once flowers go to seed, plants have fulfilled their procreation destiny and don’t need to spend their energy on more blossoms. If you deadhead so that seeds can’t ripen, you’ll force them to keep flowering. You can either clip and compost faded blooms or pick them while they’re young to give yourself the joy of filling your house with bouquets of fresh cut flowers. You don’t need to strip your garden or pots of color. Cut a few for vases and leave the rest to brighten your view. The more you cut, the more blooms you’ll induce on most annuals and even some perennials.

Dealing with cut flowers can be as simple or complicated as you choose. If you’re frustrated that everything in life seems like a big production hampered by rules and instructions, refuse to take part. Get some sharp scissors, cut your flowers, strip off any foliage that might decay underwater, put them in a vase of water, and enjoy them. When they wilt, throw them out and cut some new ones.

If you want to prolong their beauty a bit, pay attention to a few tricks — cutting first thing in the morning, for instance. Because they’ve spent the night resting and absorbing water from the earth and the air, your flowers will be strongest and hold up best if you cut before sunshine, heat and evaporation begin to tire them.

Then, when you bring them inside, draw enough lukewarm water into the sink that you can re-cut the stems underwater before you pop them into their vase. It prevents the formation of air bubbles which can block absorption. Use a sharp knife or shears and cut stems on a slant to allow the largest possible surface for absorbing water. If you cut straight across, they’ll sit flat on the bottom of the vase and may not be able to draw water into the stems. Change the water every day or two to prevent bacteria buildup.

After dead heading or cutting your flowers, discourage diseases and bugs by pruning out decayed spots, grooming away dead leaves and cleaning the area around the plants.

If containers or garden still need a little lift, you can freshen them by tucking a few new plants into the bare spaces. There’s still plenty of time for them to fill in. Remember, barring an unusually early hard frost, you can have handsome flowers until late fall. This is the perfect time to help yourself improve next year’s plantings.

Now while you’re thinking about it, take some flower photos, not only of your favorites but also the less successful ones. Date your pictures on the back and jot down variety names. If you have any particular opinions or observations, note them, too. By next spring you’ll have forgotten this year’s details. Or mixed them up. With the pictures as a reminder, you won’t wonder why you thought you’d want extras of one kind or hoped never again to see another variety. A simple, pretty album of your flowers and notes will delight you for years, and it’s the sort of cherished memento that’s handed down through the family. P