How do I tip prune my garden plants?

As warmer weather arrives in spring most plants have a growth surge. For spring flowering plants the new shoot growth is laying the framework for the next flowering season. You can greatly enhance that next flowering by the simple process of tip pruning. The idea is to pinch out the soft growing tips of as many new shoots as possible. Each tip that is removed causes several new growing tips to emerge from behind it which greatly increases the number of shoots on which flowers will be borne in the next flowering season.

Tip pruning can be done regularly while ever the plant is actively growing. A handful of slow release fertilizer around the base of the plant at the beginning of spring or a dose of liquid fertilizer every few weeks will further enhance the next flowering.