Becky's Greenhouse
  • Home
  • BLOG: Gardening and You
  • Gardening Events
  • Flowers
  • About Us
  • Contact

Deadheading is part of our gardening chores....

5/10/2018

0 Comments

 
     Deadheading is a gardening chore that must be done regularly throughout the growing season. Deadheading is nothing more than the removal of dead or spent flowers from living plants. It's good for your plants and means more flowers for you.
 
Benefits of Deadheading Garden Flowers
 
There are four main reasons why you should include deadheading as part of your routine garden maintenance:
■ Make the plant look neater. Dying flowers tend to turn brown and either dry or mushy. This can detract from the overall look you've work so hard to achieve in your garden.
■ Encourage plants to set more flower buds. Plants flower in order to set seed. If their flowers are constantly being removed before they mature and go to seed, many plants, although not all, will simply set more. This will extend the length of the blooming season. Most annual flowers, such as petunias, zinnias, and marigolds, as well as many perennial plants, will continue to bloom throughout the growing season—if they are deadheaded. Rudbeckia and Echinacea are good examples of perennials that benefit from deadheading. They will repeat-bloom through the season, if regularly deadheaded
■ Help plants conserve energy. Removing dead blooms allows the plant to direct its energy toward improving its general health. Perennial flowers, such as Astilbe and peonies, bloom only once, even with deadheading. However, cutting back the flower stalks allows all the plant's energy to be put back into its roots and foliage, allowing it to regain any energy it lost to flowering and making for a generally hardier plant.
 ■ Prevent seed formation. Some plants self-sow aggressively, and deadheading prevents them from forming seed in the first place. Plants like bellflowers, chives, and garlic chives can quickly outgrow their space, if allowed to self-sow. Of course, plants become aggressive in different growing conditions, so one gardener's invasive plants can be another gardener's growing challenge. Sometimes self-sowing is a welcome attribute, as with columbines and butterfly weed.
How to Deadhead Flowers
There are few common methods for deadheading garden flowers. Choose the best technique for your garden based on the type and size of plant and the number of flowers it produces:
■ Pruning: For plants with large flowers, like daylilies and coneflowers, the easiest way to deadhead is with your hand pruners. If there are unopened flower buds lower on the flower stalk, just remove the dead flowers on top. If the whole length of the flower stalk has finished blooming, remove the entire stalk at the base of the plant.
■ Pinching: Some flower stalks are thin and soft enough to simply pinch off between your fingers. Pinching is quick and convenient, especially with plants like coleus, where you want to avoid flowers entirely because you are growing the plants for their colorful leaves.
■ Shearing: When there is a profusion of tiny flowers, as with thread-leaf coreopsis, the best thing to do is to wait until more of the flowers are past their prime and then simply shear the entire plant back by about one-third. You will lose a few flowers in the process, but the plant will quickly recover and set a whole new flush of blooms. It will also look  fresher. You can often shear two or more times per season.
taken from https://www.thespruce.com/deadheading-garden-flowers-
till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky's Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Hi! My name is Becky and I am a Master Gardener. I own Becky's Greenhouse in Dougherty, Iowa.

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    Planting

Picture
Gardening and You Radio Show 
KLMJ every Saturday morning at 7:20 a.m., station 104.9, Hampton, IA
Becky's Greenhouse
80 South Main
Dougherty, IA 50433
Phone:  641-794-3337 
cell 641-903-9365
​
Larry's Garage
Shop: 641-794-3337
Cell: 641-318-2007
2023 Copyright
Gardening & You Blog
Contact
Radio Show Recordings
  • Home
  • BLOG: Gardening and You
  • Gardening Events
  • Flowers
  • About Us
  • Contact