Deadheading for Extended Bloom: Techniques for Every Plant Type

Deadheading: Not as Scary as It Sounds

Despite the ominous name, deadheading is simply trimming off spent flowers to keep plants tidy and maximize bloom time. It’s tough to kill or badly deform a plant by deadheading unless you really whack away.

First, deadheading keeps your garden attractive. Nearly all flowering plants benefit from at least some deadheading. When blooms fade, brown, curl, or look unattractive, trim them off so the remaining flowers shine.

Summer’s end is a great time to inspect your plants; find more tips for seasonal care here.

Which Plants to Deadhead?

Watch your plants: if flowers stay on and become brown and unattractive, it’s time to deadhead.

Shrubby Plants with Many Small Flowers

Includes Coreopsis, feverfew, golden marguerites, Lobelia, sweet alyssum, smaller mums, Potentilla, flax, Aster, Gaillardia, and Ageratum. Trimming individually is too time-consuming; shear with grass shears, getting as much flower stalk as possible. Avoid buds, but don’t worry about taking a little foliage—it grows back.

Shrubby Plants with Large Flowers

Includes large marigolds, summer phlox, Astilbe, peonies, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, daisies, annual and perennial Salvia, petunias, zinnias. With hand pruners, cut each flower individually, removing enough stalk so it doesn’t protrude awkwardly. Taking a bit of foliage is fine (and desirable for leggy plants like petunias).

Roses

Deadheading roses differs from pruning. Remove only the minimum stem to remove the flower. Cut at a 45° angle sloping down toward the center of the bush. Cut just above the first pair of leaves, directly above an outward-facing bud (pointing away from the plant’s center).

Long-stem Flowers on Tall Stalks

Includes daylilies, larkspur, foxgloves, hostas, tulips, daffodils, Oriental poppies, irises. Cut each flower stalk with hand pruners as close as possible to where the stalk meets the leaves.

Plants That Bloom Longer if Deadheaded

• Hardy geraniums
• Coreopsis
• Petunias
• Marigolds
• Snapdragons
• Begonias
• Roses
• Campanula
• Blanket flowers
• Delphinium
• Zinnias
• Sweet peas
• Salvia
• Scabiosa
• Annual heliotrope
• Geraniums (Pelargonium)
• Tulips
• Daffodils
• Yarrow

No Need to Deadhead

• Grasses
• Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
• Melampodium
• Impatiens
• Most flowering vines
• Most groundcovers
• Crocuses and other “minor” spring bulbs
• Wishbone flower (Torenia)

Other Ways to Extend Blooms

Deadheading is just one way to stretch the bloom season. Try these:

• Set potted annuals in the garden and move them to areas needing instant color.
• Plant late-summer and autumn-flowering bulbs in early to midsummer.
• Apply organic mulch (bark chips, shredded leaves) to suppress weeds and retain moisture; it breaks down and improves soil.
• Water deeply every 3–4 days while young plants establish, then weekly. Later, water as needed when soil is dry.
• Feed perennials monthly (spring through summer) with low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus fertilizer. Feed annuals every three weeks with balanced (5-10-5) organic fertilizer.
• Weed out unwanted plants so flowers don’t compete for nutrients.
• Remove rose suckers (stems below the graft) at the base as soon as they appear.
• Propagate by dividing plants or collecting seeds from a few faded blooms you don’t deadhead.

Deadheading Your Garden