Usually I agonise as to whether or not to do a Chelsea Chop or not.  This is the practise of cutting back herbaceous perennials that have had their “first fling” to keep them tidy during the rest of the year and is usually done at the time of the Chelsea Flower Show, which is on this week.

No Chelsea Chop

The reason why I have to think long and hard about this is that my garden opening is the following week and while the plants quickly grow back, this does tend to take a couple of weeks.

In a year where everything is early, I tend to do the chop at least a week before Chelsea to give the plants time to look good again for the visitors.

This year however, everything is so late that the plants have a way to go before they put on their first show.  So, instead of having to do a Chelsea Chop, I have plenty of other jobs to do in the garden that the weather put paid to earlier in the year – thank goodness it is a Bank Holiday weekend!