Keep your hanging baskets and patio pots looking fresh with some occasional deadheading.

Like many plants, the Verbenas grow their flowers in sets of three. The middle one usually finishes first so snip that out to give the two side-buds their chance to shine. If all three have gone over then snip the stem to at least half.

Catherine McMillan gives top gardening tips on Felixstowe Radio. Listen every Friday.

This week Catherine and Rob discuss how to make a wildlife pond and the benefits of having one, namely that they attract lots of nice creatures that eat the creatures gardeners aren't so keen on!

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Who remembered to do their Derby Day box clip? Not us! Traditionally, box topiary and hedging plants (Buxus sempervirens) are clipped on the same day as the Epsom Derby in early June. This is because it is (in theory) the furthest point from any frosts, meaning the plants have the longest possible time to heal up and toughen up after their trim.

No Derby Day this year to help remind us, but we have at least got it done in the right month. Avoid the temptation to regularly cut your Buxus as this is thought to make them more prone to the dreaded 'Box Blight'. If your plants are particularly unhealthy or misshapen they will survive a hard hack, although expect to wait a while for them to regrow.

A very nice alternative to box is the Pittosporum Beach Ball (right), which naturally grows into a dense 4ft ball shape without any clipping.

Once the blooms on your evergreen Euphorbias have lost their fabulous lime green colouring get out there and give them a prune. Probably a job for the secateurs rather than the scissors, and make sure you wear gloves and cover your arms as the milky sap they release can irritate the skin.

Cut down the flower spikes as low down as you can go.

If you have lots of wild, wiry old growth – and you don’t like the look of this – you can also cut down non-flowering stems hard too. If your plant has nothing but old growth it is a good idea to leave a few old stems with leaves as an insurance policy. Your pruning should stimulate fresh, young growth from the base: once this happens you can cut off the last of the old stems.

In these pictures all the non-flowering growth has been left uncut.

Catherine McMillan gives top gardening tips on Felixstowe Radio. Listen every Friday.

This week Catherine and Rob discuss how and where to plant climbers, how to train them, how to use them around the garden, and settle the debate on how to pronounce 'Clematis'.

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Another ‘bridge the gap’ plant due its annual haircut is the Pulmonaria. Common name is the very unappealing sounding Lungwort, but it is a very pretty ground cover plant that, like Aquilegia, will grown in sun or shade, and provides vital early pollen for the bees.

Although you might be able to see young leaves in the centre it is still worth chopping these back as well as their replacements will look nicer for longer.

Catherine McMillan gives top gardening tips on Felixstowe Radio. Listen every Friday.

This week she covers the zen approach to dealing with caterpillars on your Verbascums; how to lure slugs and snails; and the benefits of having a water butt.

Felixstowe Radio 107.5fm
www.felixstoweradio.org.uk

We are now into the main flowering season for perennial plants, which means you can take the snippers to those much-appreciated plants that bridged the gap from bulb season to now.

Aquilegia, also known as Granny’s Bonnet and Columbine, provides flowers in all sorts of colours in late spring, but it is likely yours is now running out of blooms. They are good self-seeders, so leave them for now if you are keen to bulk up your collection – although note the seedlings often don’t have the same colour flowers as their parents.

If you are keen for a tidy up, be bold and chop the old leaves as well as the stems as this will stimulate fresh new growth. The picture on the far right is one cut back hard a few weeks earlier!