Good morning! Deadheading, no doubt, sounds rather unpleasant. But, it’s something we should talk about, especially since so many people have questions about whether spent blooms should be cut off and, if so, how to go about doing that.

So, let’s start with the basics.

Perennials need to be deadheaded for a number of reasons. Some, like astilbes and catmint, just look better. But did you know your plants use a lot of energy making seeds when spent blooms are left on them? If you cut them back, that energy will go into the plant’s roots — and into growing instead.

Unless you specifically want what most gardeners call volunteers, or new plants, it is best to cut off spent blooms. It also makes the garden look better. I do have a few exceptions, however. I let my lupine blooms seed out because they are not necessarily long-lived and I always want new babies. I have a particularly lovely pink one that is not as prolific as the normal purple. When these bloom in the spring, I tie a piece of twine on them so when the blooms have passed, I can identify the pink. I deadhead a majority of the purple but leave every single pink one to seed out. Every year, I get more and more pink ones.

If you want foxgloves every year, you must allow them to seed out. Foxgloves are a biennial, meaning they come up and bloom only every other year; but if you allow them to seed out, you propagate them. But take note, lupine and foxgloves do not come back where they were previously. So in the spring, you have to remember to watch for them and not weed them out.

I have pink peony poppies in a cottage garden that I love dearly, but they aren’t always strong enough for our winter. I allow them to seed each summer so new ones always grow next summer.

If you have spaces to fill in your gardens, allowing plants like coneflowers, Shasta daisies and brown-eyed Susans to seed out will give you more plants next spring, which you can then transplant to other locations. Or, as the flowers pass and they form seeds, allow the seeds to ripen (dry on the flower) and then harvest them into small containers. If they are still a bit green, let them dry in a dish or basket on the counter, then store them in cellophane envelopes and spread them where you want them to grow in early fall or early next spring. It takes a bit of time, but you will get many flowers for no money with little effort.

If you haven’t cut the blooms off your columbines, they should be dry enough to seed out now if you harvest them from the plant. Other perennials that seed out well include astilbes, lady’s mantle, betony, lamb’s ear, garden phlox and beacon silver or lamium. 

If you are growing catmint, you should have sheered it back by half; but you can still do it. It neatens it up a great deal. The same is true of candy tuft and dianthus.

If the branches on your old-fashioned bleeding hearts are looking ragged and unkempt, cut them back to the ground; but don’t forget to keep them watered. After you cut them back, this would be the perfect time to plant hostas, three to be exact — one to the left, another to the right and one in front of the bleeding heart. Obviously, be careful not to disturb the rhizomes of the bleeding heart. Next year when you have to cut back the bleeding heart fronds, the hostas will be there to cover the resulting empty space in the garden. They will grow just fine under the bleeding heart’s fronds until that time.

Take the blossoms off your chives unless you want 100 more chive plants. I didn’t always do this and I have chives growing on rock ledges and in the gravel at my house. The same goes for oregano and thyme, and most especially mint. I pull entire mint plants frequently because they are just too strong to control if you don’t.

Unfortunately, the weeds seed out better than most plants you have, so they do need to be pulled. Sorry!

Now to your annuals and those pots and containers that are starting to look tired. Many annuals don’t need to be deadheaded due to their nature or new hybridizing techniques. That does not mean they do not need to be cut back, however. This is especially true of those fast growing container denizens such as hybrid petunias and sweet potato vines. Don’t be afraid to cut those stems by half. They will put out side stems and new flowers in a couple of weeks and look good through September. Others that usually require no deadheading include wax begonias, superbells and nemesia. Tuberous begonias will drop their dead blooms but do look neater if you remove them.

If you want continual flowers, then many annuals require some attention. Verbena is one of my favorite plants because as long as it is watered, it will survive heat very well. After each individual bloom has passed, simply pinch it off — being careful of the new blooms that are generally on the same stem or a nearby side stem.

Snap dragons will produce much better if you use sharp scissors and cut off the spent bloom spike, again watching for side shoots where new stems are forming. We all know to take off geranium blossoms because they just look bad. Pinch the blooms off coleus because they add nothing to the foliage plant and take energy from the leaves. Always pinch the blooms off your annual herbs, like basil, because they will become bitter. African daisies, cosmos and dahlias all benefit from cutting off spent blooms or cutting for bouquets because this causes them to form more flowers.

Along with deadheading, don’t forget to fertilize both perennials and annuals. Container plants require more frequent fertilizer than plants in the ground. You should have given your roses their last round of fertilizer by the time you read this because they need to be going dormant in preparation for winter. Don’t forget a well-balanced fertilizer, not bloom booster, for those garden shrubs and flowers that have passed bloom time. A well-balanced fertilizer is good for their roots.

Until next time, pick blueberries and make pies, cut flowers for the kitchen table and pick a warm night to watch fireflies as they dance about in the garden. According to my granddaughter, they are really fairies playing tag at night.

Happy gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at jodyike@megalink.net.

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