Chelsea chop: the kindest cut

Ruth explains why a mid-season trim helps many plants

- Ruth Hayes

IT'S the time of year when certain flowering herbaceous perennials can be cut back once they start I growing robustly in order to keep them looking neat and encourage a second flush of blooms.

This procedure is called the 'Chelsea chop' because it coincides with the world-famous RHS show in London.

Our large clump of Nepeta (catmint) grows beautifully in late spring but then starts to collapse outwards, leaving the central bare stems nakedly on show.

Not only does it look less attractive, it threatens to smother the other plants growing around it.