DEADHEADING FLOWERS

KEEP YOUR ANNUALS BLOOMING           

'DEAD-HEADING'

Annuals are plants that grow to maturity, flower, set seed, and die within one year. Once the flowers are pollinated most of the energy of the plant is focused on producing seeds which will ensure its survival the following year. 

Deadheading old flowers encourages the plant to focus  energy on
producing new flowers rather than seeds. 

In order to "fool' the plant into creating more flowers gardeners use the simple trick of pinching off the old flowers. This technique is known as 'dead-heading'.  It forces the plant to start over and produce even more flowers.

 This proven practice works on all annuals from early spring pansies to summer blooming zinnia and marigolds.  Some plants like pansies will even form two new flowers for every one pinched.

Although many flowers can be snapped off with your fingertips, it is often quicker to use snips.

With many flowers you can simply remove the old bloom with your finger tips. On plants with thicker stems it is wiser to use snips to prevent damaging the plants and new flowers.

Many perennials will grow new flowers and extend the flowering season when deadheaded.

The hardest part of this task is finding the time to do it.  If it's late in the season and your marigolds have more dead flowers than you want to deal with, take a chair and cup of tea to where they are and make the task more enjoyable. This will keep your marigolds blooming into early autumn.

On plants such as geraniums and marigold the old dead flowers turn brown and unsightly.
Deadheading keeps them looking neat and tidy.

Dead-heading is also beneficial to many other plants as well. Although most 'perennials' will only bloom for a few weeks during their season, removing the seeds encourages the plants to produce stronger root systems. Since many perennials are best propagated by division (dividing the root system) this practice is very beneficial.

Perennials also benefit from deadheading by producing new flowers
and extending its season.

Even plants grown for their leaves such as Hosta do best when old flowers are removed, producing stronger healthy root systems.

In order to propagate this daylily root division is the easiest and most dependable technique.
Deadheading the spent flowers encourages stronger root growth.

 Summer flowering shrubs such as butterfly bushes or roses will also produce more flowers when dead-headed.

Happy Gardening,

James