The girl's eye is also popularly known as the beautiful face because of its attractive flowers and is an integral part of many cottage gardens and perennial beds. One of the most important care measures for plants to thrive is cutting back at the right time.
When and how should you cut back the girl's eye?
The girl's eye can be cut in both autumn and spring. In autumn, pruning promotes a tidy appearance and new bud formation; in spring, the plant offers protection to beneficial insects and enables self-sowing. Withered areas can be cut back during the flowering period.
When gardening close to nature, pruning is usually done in spring
Pruning perennials in spring can have the following benefits:
- the self-sowing of seeds within the radius of a location
- a winter quarters for various beneficial insects
- the easier identification of different plant varieties after the snow melts
If you like to maintain your garden as close to nature as possible, then you can leave the girl's eye herb over the winter as a protective quarters for ladybirds and other beneficial insects. In addition, the young plants that have sprouted through self-sowing can be discovered and carefully transplanted in the spring.
Reasons for pruning in autumn
If you don't place much value on self-sowing, but rather on a tidy look in the garden, then there are various reasons for cutting back the beautiful faces in autumn. If you cut the plants back to just above the ground immediately after flowering, you will prevent uncontrolled sowing of seeds and encourage the plants to form new buds. This not only promotes the abundance of flowers in the next vegetation phase, but sometimes short-lived subspecies can also be saved over the winter.
Pruning during flowering and as a cut flower
The flowering period for girls' eyes usually extends from July to September. Since not all flowers bloom at the same time, individual flowers regularly wilt during this period. If you cut back the plant directly where it has faded, you will not be able to harvest seeds, but you may stimulate the formation of additional flowers in the same year. If you want to bring some of the flowers into the house in a vase, you should cut off the flowers early in the morning. This will keep your bouquet of girls' eyes in the vase fresh for as long as possible.
Tip
If you notice powdery mildew infestation on your girl's eyes, you should quickly cut out the affected areas generously and burn the cut material in a controlled manner. This will prevent it from spreading further and spreading to other plants.
