Time for the Texas Chop

By Stephanie Suesan Smith

Are your perennials looking leggy and kind of sad? Time for the Texas Chop. Modeled on the Chelsea Chop done in Britain, this cuts back your perennials in July or early August. The Chelsea Chop is so named because the best time to do it in Britain is in May, right around the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Benefits of the Texas Chop

The Texas chop does several things for your plants. It reduces the size of the plant, reducing its need for water in the hot summer. You do not need to stake the plant to keep it from flopping over. By cutting the plant, the chop stimulates it to produce a flush of growth in time for late summer and fall. The plant creates more side branches, becoming more dense and less leggy. This increases the number of blooms, although they will be smaller than the blooms on an uncut plant. While the cut plant is not attractive for a short time, it comes back much better if you are patient.

Which Plants Benefit?

The Texas Chop benefits perennials that bloom through the summer and into the fall on a bush. Examples of plants that respond well to this method here in north Texas include the following:

Mystic Spires salvia
Mexican bush sage
Gregg’s mistflower
Texas rock rose
Mexican mint marigold
Verbena
Autumn sage hybrids
Henry and Augusta Duelberg salvias

By contrast, plants that bloom on single stems should be deadheaded only, including:

Bee balm
Coneflowers
Rudbeckia
Gomphrena
Black‑eyed Susan
Liatris

How to Do the Texas Chop

Simply cut back the perennial by one third to one half. Do not cut more than one half of the plant back at one time or you will damage the plant. Discard the cut material in the compost pile if the plant is healthy. Otherwise, discard the plant material in the trash.

If you have several plants of the same type, cut half of the plants back and leave the other half uncut. These plants will continue to bloom until the cut plants regrow and start blooming again.

Post Texas Chop Care

Care for plants after the Texas Chop just like you would if you did not cut them back. Water regularly, do not fertilize the plants in the summer heat, and wait for the plants to spring back and reward you with more blooms on a more compact, pleasant looking plant.