How to Deadhead Flowers

Deadhead Flowers: The process of removing faded or dead blooms from plants is known as “deadheading.” It is done, whether in hanging baskets, containers or beds & borders, to maintain the aesthetic appeal of the plants and promote more flowers.

Reasons for Deadheading

Most flowers lose their appeal as they fade, detracting from the overall appearance of beds, borders and containers. Removing these by deadheading helps keep displays looking better for longer.

Deadheading is the removal of flowers from plants when they have faded or died. It keeps plants attractive and encourages re-flowering.

Deadhead Flowers also:

• Directs energy into stronger growth and more flowers instead of unwanted seed pods
• Prevents plants with numerous petals, such as peonies, camellias, and many roses, from scattering old petals widely
• Prevents plants from self-seeding, useful for plants that self-seed readily and can become a nuisance, such as common valerian (Valeriana officinalis), sea holly (Eryngium), and lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

When to Deadhead Flowers

Deadhead Flowers is the practice of removing dead flowers from plants to keep them looking attractive and promote new blooms. Consider the following:

• For plants that flower rapidly, such as summer bedding, deadhead daily or every two days.
• For perennial plants, Deadhead Flowers once a week.
• If a plant has a brief flowering period, Deadhead Flowers after it finishes blooming.
• A slight delay in deadheading will not have a substantial impact on the plant’s flowering.

How to Deadhead

Using Finger and Thumb The easiest method is to pinch or snap off faded blooms with your finger and thumb, aiming to remove the flower with its stalk to maintain the plant’s tidy appearance.

Using Secateurs, Scissors, or a Knife To deadhead plants with thick, tough, or stringy stems, use secateurs, scissors, or a knife. For most plants, trim away the spent flower, cutting back to just above the next bud or leaf on the stem.

For plants with heads of multiple flowers, such as delphiniums and lupins, pinch or trim off individual flowers where practical, then prune the entire head to just above a lower bud, leaf, side shoot, or to ground level once all flowers have finished.

Some plants, like hardy geraniums, cat mint (Nepeta), and lady’s mantle (Alchemilla), will produce a second flush of flowers if cut back close to ground level after flowering. Others, such as pulmonaria and oriental poppies, can still be cut back but usually only produce fresh foliage.

Deadheading Different Garden Plants

Deadhead Flowers shouldn’t be a daunting task, and most plants don’t need a special technique – it’s just a matter of knowing where to pinch, snap, or trim off the spent flowers:

Bedding Plants Tender plants growing in beds, containers, and hanging baskets respond well to deadheading. Remove faded blooms of argyranthemums, heliotrope, pansies, polyanthus, and petunias with finger and thumb, pinching off the flower and its stalk.

Pelargoniums Pinch off individual flowers and use secateurs to remove whole clusters and the long flower stalk down to just above where it joins the main stem. Alternatively, grab the flower stalk and pull downwards away from the main stem – the stalk should snap off cleanly.

Roses Gently snap the faded flowers off hybrid tea roses, breaking the stalk just below the head. This method encourages more blooms more quickly compared to cutting with secateurs. For other roses, snip off individual flowers or clusters of flowers down to just above the next leaf.

Shrubs The height of a shrub may make deadheading impractical, but examples of shrubs that benefit from deadheading are rhododendrons (and azaleas), camellias, lilacs (Syringa), and tree peonies. Use finger and thumb to pick or snap off each dead head where it joins the stem, or secateurs to cut just below the flower head. Take care to avoid damaging the new growth buds immediately below the flower.

Climbers Deadhead climbers where practical, particularly Eccremocarpus as it rapidly produces seed pods. Most have tough stems, so use secateurs to cut near the base of each flower stalk.

Bulbs Remove flowers from larger bulbs, such as daffodils, cutting or pinching through the flower stalk just behind the bulbous seed capsule. Leave the green flower stalk in place as it photosynthesises, helping to build up the bulb to flower well next season.

Do I Need to Deadhead?

Some obliging plants don’t require Deadhead Flowers – those like fuchsias, bedding lobelias, and salvias either don’t set much seed or neatly deadhead themselves, sparing you the effort. Other instances where deadheading isn’t necessary include:

• Plants that produce seeds loved by birds, such as rudbeckias, cornflowers, and sunflowers
• Plants that produce decorative and bird-friendly hips or berries, such as many species and rambler roses, many Viburnum, and Amelanchier
• Plants that have ornamental seedheads, such as love-in-a-mist (Nigella), stinking iris (Iris foetidissima), honesty (Lunaria annua), and Chinese lantern (Physalis alkekengi)
• Plants that produce so many flowers that deadheading becomes impractical, such as Deutzia, Spiraea, Thalictrum, many asters, alyssum (Lobularia maritima), and trailing campanula
• Plants that are difficult to access safely, such as many trees and vigorous climbers – not deadheading those like Clematis montana and climbing hydrangea won’t significantly affect their display
• Where you want plants to self-seed or plan to collect seed for later sowing