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Daily gardening tip · Northern hemisphere · Wednesday 2 September 2026 · early autumn

Clearing Old Raspberry Canes

Clearing away the raspberry stems that finished fruiting this summer creates room and light for a healthy harvest next year.

Clearing Old Raspberry Canes
20 minuteseasypruning
  1. Identify the woody, brown raspberry stems that carried fruit this summer.
  2. Locate the fresh, leafy green stems, which must be left alone to grow.
  3. Use sharp pruners to cut the old, brown stems down to the ground.
  4. Remove the cut stems from the patch to prevent pests from nesting over winter.
A garden in early autumn

Why it works

Summer-fruiting raspberries produce berries on stems that grow for two years. Once a stem has finished fruiting, it dies and will never produce berries again. Removing these dead stems allows sunlight and air to reach the young green stems that will carry next summer's fruit.

Carolina Thistle

Plant of the day

Carolina Thistle

Cirsium carolinianum

A slender biennial or perennial thistle native to the southeastern US. It produces solitary, purple flower heads on long stems and lacks the aggressive spread of invasive thistles.

Read about it →

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On this day

George Washington visited Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia

On September 2, 1787, George Washington visited Bartram's Garden while attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Although he noted in his diary that the layout was modest, he admired the extensive collection of unusual plants and exotic trees. Washington later ordered hundreds of trees and shrubs from the nursery to plant at his Mount Vernon estate.

heald.nga.gov

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