What Is Deadheading?

Deadheading may sound like the act of a crazed murderer, but gardeners know that deadheading flowers is actually an act of kindness. Deadheading refers to removing old or faded flowers from your plants to keep them looking good and to promote healthy growth.

How it works

Although we grow flowers for their beauty, as far as the plant is concerned, the sole purpose of blooms is to produce seeds to continue the species. Color and scent are simply the means the plant uses to attract pollinators like butterflies and bees.

When the plant has produced seeds, it stops producing flowers because it knows its job is done. But, you can trick the plant into producing flowers for an extended period by the simple act of removing the flower heads before they have formed seeds.

This sends a message to the plant that it has not produced enough seed to reproduce. As a result, the plant obliges by producing new flowers in an attempt to continue the species.

Procedure

Remove the entire flower head by snipping the flower from the stem - or picking them by hand. As a rule, plants that produce mounded foliage with blooms held close to the plant can be deadheaded by simply snapping the faded flower from the plant. Cut away the flower and the stem on plants that produce flowers on long singular stem. For branched stems, cut the flower and its stem back to the next branch that contains buds.

Alternate methods

Some plants, such as sweet alyssum and garden phlox, produce an abundance of flowers that suddenly seem to fade at once. These plants benefit from cutting both the blooms and the foliage back by several inches once blooming ceases. This sends out a second flush of blooms on lush foliage.

Check your flowerbed daily and make a habit of deadheading blooms as soon as they begin to fade to keep your flower garden looking good all summer. A few minutes in the early morning and again after the heat of the day has passed is all it takes to keep your flower garden blooming all summer.

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