Deadheading Keeps Flowers Looking Healthy

By Caroline Hayes

Deadheading may sound like a cruel way to treat a plant, but if you want it to flower all summer, do it. Apart from making the garden much neater, removing fading flowers also prevents plants setting seed. Setting seed is their reason for living, so they will simply grow new flowers and try again - and again - and again, giving you burst after burst of new blooms.

No seeds also means no unwanted seedlings. Invasive flowering plants won't be able to send their offspring to march across your garden, smothering more reticent plants as they go. Unwanted bugs and fungal diseases will be deterred, too, if you get rid of the decaying flowers in which they live. The only deadheading downside is the fact that birds like seeds and they may leave your garden in favor of greener pastures. If you can't bear to see them go, leave out other bird food instead.

How Is It Done?

Flowers should be removed just after they've peaked. Be vigilant. Some plants, such as sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus), will stop flowering the moment they've manufactured a few seeds. Pinching, pruning, snapping and clipping are the methods. Pinch short-stemmed flowers such as Petunias - as far down the stem as possible - but prune Roses. Cut the stem diagonally just above the highest leaf. For plants with one flower per stem, such as Delphinium, cut just above a strong bud. Snap or cut Pelargoniums stems where they meet the main stem. This method works for most plants with long stems carrying a single flower. Clip all spent flowers in one go from plants with masses of small blooms. Use a pair of handheld shears or hedge clippers. Deadheading flower by flower would take forever, but a good trim will not only make the plant neater but also encourage a second flush of flowers.

Don't expect miracles. Deadheading doesn't work for all plants. Tulips, Daffodils and most other bulbs won't flower again until the following year. Others don't need it - ground-cover plants for example. Others have striking seed heads, which deadheading will put a stop to, and, obviously, if you want a plant to seed itself you shouldn't deadhead it. Encouraging seed production is a good way to bring tender perennials back from the dead after they've been killed by winter frosts. For example, Verbena bonariensis will obligingly sow seed before the first severe winter frost kills it and then reappear the following year as if it had never been away.

If you're new to deadheading, don't worry too much about getting it wrong. You would have to be very brutal to a very delicate plant to deadhead it to death. Most plants will recover from even the worst experience.

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