5 garden tips for this week, Sept. 22-28

1. Flowers, in a pinch
If you prefer to have clusters of blooms decorating your garden in autumn, you can ignore this suggestion. But if you prefer to grow long-stem flowers to cut for flower arrangements, here’s how to get them on fall-blooming plants such as chrysanthemums, dahlias and roses: Pinch off the small side buds that develop around each main bud. Do this before the side buds reach pea-size, if possible. That way the plant will lavish its energy on one giant bloom per stem