Deadheading Flowers

It may feel a bit gloomy to pick off fading flowers from the yard’s plants but you’re actually setting plants up for success by pinching off spent flowers, a process called deadheading.

Some plants will bloom more profusely if the old, spent flowers are removed. Annuals, especially, focus their energy on seed production to ensure that the species survives. If you remove the old flowers, the energy used to produce seed is now available to produce more flowers.

Normally, gardeners can deadhead flowers by simply pinching them off with a thumb and finger, but some tougher stems may require scissors or pruning shears.

Some perennials also benefit from deadheading, which essentially extends the blooming season by encouraging an additional burst of flowers. But in the case of perennials,some gardeners actually enjoy the look of spent flowers, such as sedum or purple coneflower. And the seed produced can be a good food source for birds.

Other plants that do not need to be deadheaded include sedum (Autumn Joy), melampodium, impatiens, most flowering vines, Lythrum, periwinkle (Catharanthus) and wishbone flower (Torenia).

For more information reach out to me at jlcarr@ksu.edu