How to Deadhead Flowers for a Longer Bloom
Deadhead flowers in your garden for a longer bloom season and to keep plants looking neat and tidy. Deadheading is the removal of spent flowers before they have a chance to set seeds and divert the plants' energy away from producing new flowers. The goal of all flowering plants is to produce seeds for the next generation of plants. Delaying this process will prolong the production of flowers and enhance the beauty of your garden. Here's how to deadhead your flowers. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Pinch back spent flowers on annual plants, such as marigolds, cosmos, zinnias, and nicotianas every few days. The stems of annuals are usually tender enough to simply pinch off the spent blooms with your fingers. Remove most of the stem behind the flower for a neat appearance and to encourage new flowers to grow up above the foliage for a showier bloom. If the stem is too thick to pinch off neatly, use garden shears to cut it. Never pull the flower and stem off because you might tear off an entire branch with new flower buds on it.
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Cut back the spent flowering stem of perennials such as roses, just above the next bud down on the stem. Be sure to wear garden gloves for protection against thorns. Not all perennials will produce more blooms by deadheading, but cutting off faded blooms keeps them looking their best throughout the growing season. Some perennials, such as coreopsis, produce new buds just behind the spent bloom, so you need to cut these just behind the base of the wilted flower base. If you're not sure where to cut a particular plant, experiment by cutting the flowers at different lengths to see what works best on each species.
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Use hedge shears to cut the tops off of low growing multi-flowered plants like Alyssum. Candytuft, Lady's mantle and Dianthus. Trying to pinch off individual tiny flowers on these plants is tedious and unnecessary work. Cut them off evenly just below the spent flowers and water them thoroughly to produce a new crop of flowers.
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