OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
WILL BREATHE LIFE INTO FLOWERING PLANTS, SO GRAB THE SECATEURS AND START TIDYING
A SPOT OF DEADHEADING
DEADHEADING sounds like a miserable occupation but I love it. It is not arduous, it does not need to involve too much bending down, and in just a few minutes a shrub or a perennial that looked decidedly tatty can be transformed into a thing of neatness, if not beauty.
All plants are on a mission to set seed but if you prevent them doing so – by snipping off their faded flowers – they will often attempt to produce a second flush of bloom with that aim in mind.
Sweet peas and aquilegias (columbines) in particular will go on flowering much longer if regularly deadheaded, whereas if they are allowed to run to seed the flowers can stop abruptly.
In the case of both these plants, picking the flowers for indoor display is a productive way of enjoying them.
Roses are prime candidates for deadheading but there are things to bear in mind.
If you are tackling a variety that has bright rose hips that add to the garden’s beauty in autumn, then stay your hand. The faded petals will soon fall away and leave the fruits to fatten and redden, cheering you up at a time of year when autumn tints fall all too quickly.
Rosa rugosa and Rosa moyesii “Geranium” are two of the best in the hip department.
Other roses, though, can often be encouraged to produce a second crop of flowers if they are deadheaded in two halves.
First, snip off each individual faded flower from the cluster at the tips of a stem. You’ll be astonished at how this freshens up the plant, whether it is a hybrid tea, a floribunda or a shrub rose.
Second, as soon as all the flowers have faded on a stem, cut back that shoot by about 9in or a foot, just above a leaf, to a point where the stem is about pencil thickness.
Border perennials such as lupins and delphiniums are also worth deadheading. Cut back to a few inches below the lowest faded flower.
The second flush will not be so spectacular, but every little helps to brighten a border.
If they are allowed to run to seed the flowers can stop abruptly