Rejuvenate Your Plants: Deadheading Prolongs Flowering

Now that your flowers are off and blooming, you'll want to keep up the show going forever! Of course, while realistically that's nearly possible, you can keep repeat blooms going for much of the summer. 


Many perennials bloom the entire season but only if you deadhead them. What is deadheading? Basically you prune back the dead flower/seed heads after the plant has flowered, to promote additional flowering.


A few repeat blooming perennials that benefit from deadheading
 include:

• Blanket Flower
• Veronica
• Speedwell
• Lavender
• Bellflower
• Yarrow
• Tickseed
• Coneflower
• Pincushion Flower
• Endless Summer Hydrangea
• May Night Salvia
• Rozanne Geranium
• Dianthus

Two well known some-what self- pruning perennials are:
Stella D'Ora Daylillies
Knock-Out Roses
These two plants, while can be deadheaded, will continue to bloom without pruning. I have learned if you have the time, pruning the Knock-Out roses every now and again during the growing season tidys up the bush and encourages growth. To prune, find dead flower, go to next three leaf start - and prune at that point. 


An easy way to clean up or deadhead blooms that can be pruned all at once, is using hedge trimmers. I know it seems a bit overkill, but I love using my Ryobi cordless hedge trimmers to prune back ground covers that have bloomed. They are also great to use with Veronica, dianthus pinks, lavender (once I pick some to dry), or pruning back foliage on mums. (Note: Trimming back the foliage on your garden mums in mid June will promote more plant growth and to assure beautiful fall blooms.) 


Of course, you can also keep your annuals blooming longer by deadheading them, too. For annuals, dead heading or pinching back the plants stems, keeps them from becoming straggly looking over the summer months. 


Now that the full blown flower season is among us... keep pruning, watering, fertilizing and enjoying! 


Happy Blooming!