Post Script

I meant to mention this in my post last night but forgot. Then this morning, while I was outside getting another look at my pruning work from yesterday I remembered.

If you're planning a summer party later in the summer, in, say, 4 weeks from now, for some smaller people having a Fancy Multi-Cupcaked Birthday Party Extravaganza and you want all your almost-at-the-end-of-their-blooming-period perennials like balloon flowers, campanula, daisies, roses, digitalis, and even bergamot to be covered in gorgeously unrestrained blossoms for said party...well, this would be the time to prune them back rather severely.

Not Mommy Dearest pruning (nasty, brutish, & short), more a Super Nanny pruning (firm, loving, & eminently sensible).

This method works well on perennials but isn't always as dramatic with plants like pansies. Maybe it's my pruning method, but they take longer to come back with blooms after a prune.