Dusty Miller

Q. A friend of mine has a plant called 'Dusty Miller' and he wants to prune it back. Do you know anything about this plant? How should it be pruned and how much can he cut it back? It seems to be running wild.

A. Yes that Dusty Miller is an unruly straggly plant but can be trimmed to keep in form with the garden and neat looking. I am glad his is growing well. The soft leaves feel like rabbit's ears. Try these ideas:

If you do choose to grow Dusty Miller make sure to cut off its flower spikes so the plant doesn't get ratty-looking after it blooms. 'Deadheading' is the removal of spent flowers. This can be done by simply pinching the flowers off or snipping with pruners. Deadheading encourages repeated blooming and reduces likeliness of disease and pests. Rather than throwing pinched flowers on ground keep site clean by putting in compost pile if there were no disease or pest problems.

For these shrubs which grow and flower between midsummer and late fall on either last year's or this year's wood prune annually only if necessary taking out only wayward or crossed branches. More than likely you will only need to trim tips but if the case is such that little or no pruning has been done for quite some time then a more severe cutting back is called for.

Always cut back to a set of very healthy and vigorous leaves since the buds will break from the stem axils and these leaves will furnish the push needed to produce strong healthy new branches.