Deadheading Perennials
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Deadheading means to remove the spent flowers. When a flower starts to fade and it is about to go to seed, the gardener cuts it off. This is deadheading. This accomplishes several things in the garden.
Deadheading keeps the garden neat.
If you take a picture of a garden before a general deadheading and then immediately afterward, you'll be amazed at how much better a clean, neat garden looks. It only takes a few dead flower heads in a garden to create a "sad" look. Weeping blossoms is not particularly good gardening.
It keeps the garden healthy.
Removing a food source for fungus to attack is always a good idea to prevent it from gaining a foothold. Deadheading perennials is like the vacuuming of the garden.
It gives us more flowers.
This may or may not be true depending on the variety but we do know that if the plant is prone to reblooming, deadheading will encourage this. Daisy family plants will certainly bloom for longer periods if deadheaded.
So how do you deadhead?
You cut off the flower and its stem. That's it.
You cut off the stem right where it comes out of the plant's main growth.
Do not just cut off the flower leaving a dead stem sticking up. That's really ugly. If you have to leave a stem because you can't reach down into the plant, cut it off so the foliage hides it – do not leave it sticking above the plant.
In some cases, i.e. lavender, you'll take a inch or two of the main growth as well to promote bushier growth of the plant but that is a secondary trick to get the bush to thicken up. It is not part of deadheading perennials but rather pruning to thicken up growth.
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Pick dead flowers off plants that produce multiple flowers on single stems like daylilies and then cut the entire stem to the base of the plant when it has finished flowering
Resources to Find Material Mentioned on This Page
A large variety of perennial plants and seeds from many vendors.
All of Doug's Ebooks including perennial gardening ones
All of Doug's Ebooks Can Be Found Here
