How to Deadhead Flowers

Deadheading- removing fading blooms- keeps your garden looking tidy, and it encourages many flowers to continue flowering longer.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• scissors
• hand pruners
• hedge shears

1. Annuals benefit the most from deadheading, often producing nearly double the flowers they would have produced without. Perennials also can benefit since some respond with longer blooming seasons and often respond with a second flush of blooms.
2. Roses When deadheading roses, if only a few flowers on a cluster have faded, pinch or trim them off. If the whole cluster is fading, cut it off at the first leaflet with five leaves.
3. Perennials with Tall Stalks With perennials that have tall stalks, cut the stalk as near to the base as possible. In some cases the stalk dries up enough that you can gently tug it off.
4. Perennials and Annuals with Partly Faded Flower Clusters When only one flower is faded, pinch or cut the faded flower off. When the entire cluster is faded, remove the whole stem.
5. Bushy Perennials and Annuals with Many Small Flowers With bushy flowering plants, it's difficult to get only the faded flowers. So, when most of the flowers have faded, give the plant a haircut by shearing back to about one-third and removing all of the blooms.
6. Some plants look unattractive when first deadheaded, but fill out again in a week or two. When deadheading individual flowers, reach into the plant as much as possible to minimize unattractive stubs.

Tips & Warnings

• Deadheading regularly is important for maximum flowering in your garden.
• Although it's best to deadhead daily, at least once a week should be sufficient.