As summer winds down, the yard clean up begins. After your beautiful blooms are done your garden is left with spent flowers. Here is a how-to for rejuvenating your plants.
Deadheading... is not what you think it is in the gardening world. But you can rock out to the Grateful Dead and wear tie dye in the garden if you want to. Deadheading in the garden and yard is removing those unattractive spent flowers. Not only will this make your garden appear neater but it helps to strengthen the plant also.
Almost all annuals and some perennials will continue to bloom if the plant is deadheaded.
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| Daylilly, Columbine and Echinacea. |
Deadheading can be done by pruning the ended flowers or even
by pinching them off with your fingers. Or my favorite method is to let the stem dry out and just snap or pull the stem out of the plant. For plants with a lot of
tiny flowers it is easier to deadhead
by cutting back the whole plant. If the stem of the flower has leaves on it, try to prune it back so the cut stem is hidden by the rest of the plant. If the stem has no leaves on it like a Daylily, then trim the whole stem to the ground.
You definitely do not have to deadhead your plants. Your garden should be unique just like you are. Columbine is a great plant that if you let go to seed, there will be more plants next year to love. Then you can just move the new baby plant to another area or let the plant fill the planting bed more. I love leaving the Echinacea for the birds to snack on in the winter and the seeds that drop to the ground just make new plants in the spring. Whatever you preference your garden is a labor of love, so just make it your own.
You definitely do not have to deadhead your plants. Your garden should be unique just like you are. Columbine is a great plant that if you let go to seed, there will be more plants next year to love. Then you can just move the new baby plant to another area or let the plant fill the planting bed more. I love leaving the Echinacea for the birds to snack on in the winter and the seeds that drop to the ground just make new plants in the spring. Whatever you preference your garden is a labor of love, so just make it your own.
