With spring well underway, flowers are blooming in gardens across the country. May is a month when gardeners spend time tying climbing plants and roses upwards to keep them tidy and well-maintained. However, experts say this common mistake could actually reduce the number of flowers your plant produces.
Noah Mabey, senior gardener at Thornbridge Hall, said: “This is the perfect time to tie in new growth because stems are still soft and easy to shape. Later in the season, stems begin to harden and become far more difficult to train without snapping.”
According to the experts, training stems now also helps to protect plants from wind damage later in summer, particularly with climbing roses and well-trained plants.
Plants naturally direct most of their energy towards the tip of a vertically growing stem. By positioning stems at an angle, gardeners can encourage more side shoots to develop along the branches, ultimately leading to more flowering points.
Noah said: “Instead of putting all their energy into growing taller, the plant starts producing side shoots along the stem, and those are what carry the flowers.
“It’s a really simple technique, but it can completely change how climbing plants look later in the season.”
May is also an important time to tie in climbers and check wall-trained plants before growth becomes too vigorous.
The gardening expert recommended tying in climbing and rambling rose stems before wind damages them, training stems horizontally where possible, untucking stems that have started growing behind support wires and securing new growth while stems are still flexible.
Noah also advised continuing to deadhead spring flowers to encourage repeat blooming.
He added: “It’s much easier to guide plants into the shape you want now rather than later in summer when stems become too long, woody and harder to manage.”
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