This Is the Best Way to Deadhead Flowers for More Blooms
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Want to show off your green thumb in the garden this summer? Add deadheading flowers to your bag of tricks. It simply means trimming or pinching wilted flowers off your plants, and it’s an easy way to take your leggy, overgrown plants and make them look fresh from the plant nursery. The only thing you need to know is which flowers to deadhead and where to trim them stem. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about deadheading flowers to grow fuller, more colorful plants in your garden and containers.
What Is Deadheading Flowers?
Deadheading is just what it sounds like. It’s a gardening term that refers the process of carefully snipping off the dead “head,” or bloom, of a plant. While the removal of blooms that are past their prime certainly makes your garden look more lovely, it also serves an important plant health function. According to the PennState Extension, “When dead blooms are left clinging to flowering plants, they sap the nutrition and strength from the core of the plants and rob them of the energy to produce new and colorful blooms. The deadheading process redirects plants energy from seed production to root and vegetative growth.”
A plant that you regularly deadhead will look cleaner (no dead blooms) and will likely have more flowers than it would if you didn’t take the time to deadhead it.
How to Deadhead Flowers
You can use a gardening tool or your fingers, depending on your preference and what type of flower or herb you’re deadheading.
For Plants With Thin, Soft Stems
You don’t need any fancy equipment to deadhead tender-stemmed plants like basil or petunias. All you really need to do is pinch the top of the stem between the pad of your index finger and thumbnail, right above the next set down of full, healthy leaves.
For Plants With Thick Stems
A pair of garden clippers or even kitchen shears should do the trick for thicker-stemmed plants and flowering shrubs like hydrangeas and roses. Cut the stem at an angle. Just be sure to clean your tool of choice by wiping it with alcohol before getting started and in between plants as you move through your garden or from one container to another. That will help prevent any fungus or other plant disease that might be bothering one of your plants from spreading to the rest.
Why Is Deadheading Flowers Important?
In addition to helping your plant produce more robust blooms, deadheading also helps it stay full of flowers longer. “After a plant is finished flowering, it begins to form seeds,” according to the experts at PennState Extension. “The flowering process is suspended, and the plant begins to use all its energy to form seeds. Deadheading plants as soon as the blooms begin to fade will promote a second bloom.”
This is also true for plants with leaves that you harvest for cooking and eating, like chives and basil. In those cases, if you deadhead the flowers as soon as they appear, you’ll force the plant to focus on creating denser, more plentiful leaves.
Flowers That Benefit From Deadheading
The trick is knowing when deadheading flowers will spark growth and when it won’t. Some plants, like peonies, aren’t positively affected by removing the bloom. Once you clip it, that’s it—no new buds form.
These plants benefit from deadheading, according to the PennState Extension and Colorado State University Extension:
Basil (remove any flower to encourage leaf growth)
Bee balm
Bellflower
Columbine
Cosmos
Daisies
Delphinium
Evening primrose
Geranium
Hollyhock
Larkspur
Lavender
Marigold
Pansy
Petunias
Phlox
Rose
Salvia
Snapdragon
Sweet pea
Wild violets
Yarrow
Zinnia
You can skip deadheading these flowers:
Peony
Leopard plant
Nemesia
Forget-me-nots
When to Deadhead Flowers
Generally, you can go to town deadheading in the active growing season of spring and summer. The closer you get to autumn, when plants go to seed, you’ll want to pull back so they can focus on creating the next generation of beautiful blooms.
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