Deadheading 101

 

I’ve had quite a few novice gardeners ask me about deadheading lately.  Even  experienced gardeners are not always sure when to leave the faded blooms alone and when to chop them off, so I thought I’d offer some basic advice on deadheading, a somewhat tedious, although some find it zen-like, gardening chore.

Deadheading refers to the removal of a spent bloom; current wisdom says to cut off the stem down to the nearest bud or leaf below the spent bloom. Plants produce blooms in order to produce seeds, so if you cut off the seed pod, the plant will be encouraged to produce more blooms, which is the main reason for deadheading annuals.  Some annuals are bred to be sterile plants so whether you deadhead or not, they will keep trying to bloom in order to produce the seed they can’t produce.  However, deadheading improves the look of the garden and since most of us don’t know which annuals are sterile and which are not, it’s a chore worth doing.

For perennials, deadheading can prolong the blooming period for many types (such as roses, echinacea, bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea cyanus), and many others), or encourage a second flush of blooms in some others, for instance some clematis varieties.  Deadheading will also send the plant’s energy into keeping the root system strong and preparing for next year’s blooms, particularly important for bulbs such as tulips and daffodils.  In the case of bulbs, it’s important to let their foliage fade away on its own to the point where it comes away from the ground easily.

Again, many gardeners deadhead simply to keep the garden neat and beautiful, but another excellent reason to deadhead is to keep an enthusiastic self-sower from spreading itself around too much.  These plants include bachelor’s buttons, obedient plants, daisies, cosmos, hollyhocks and many others.

There are occasions when deadheading might not be recommended.  For instance, if you’d like to encourage self-sowing you should leave some seed pods intact at the end of the blooming period or season; or if bird feeding is a priority, or if you find the seedpods attractive.  Poppies, allium, some roses (their seedpods are called rose hips), clematis and many others have very attractive seed pods.

Going around the garden regularly with or without a pair of clippers (some faded blooms can be pinched off with your fingers) to deadhead all the plants that need it can be a calming and relaxing activity. It is also gratifying that such an easy task adds so much to the beauty of the garden.