DEAD HEADING
BY GLADY JEURINK
Many flower
directions say “deadhead”. Sounds weird!!! What is it? The definition is
the removal of flowers that have finished blooming. But why, when, and
which plants need this?
Generally we
deadhead to improve the looks of the plant but may be doing it to
prevent the seed from maturing and then planting themselves in surprise
areas. When plants self
seed, quite often I like the new arrangements they make because many
times it looks better than my original plan.
Some bulbs need
to be deadheaded or the plant will spend its energy producing seed at
the expense of the bulb. I
have read that tulip flowers can harbor a fungous so cut off the flower
only to get rid of the disease, but leave the stem which is still green
and making food for the bulb. There are many of the small bulbs that
will reseed and enlarge the size of the bed. For me this has been my
experience with
Scilla and
Grape Hyacinths. Both
of them now come up by the hundreds which wouldn’t happen if I had
deadheaded as soon as the flowers faded. When you clip
Gladiola or
Lilies be very careful
not to remove any more foliage than necessary. It is busy making food to
enlarge the bulb (photosynthesis). For years the “rose people” have been
giving specific directions for the Tea Rose to cut the dead
rose flower back to
the nearest 5 leaf that is facing out and the bud on the cane will
produce a new shoot to bloom in six weeks.
Facing out is to keep the center of the rose bush from getting
crowded which encourages fungous disease. Now, in the last few years
several people have challenged cutting off so much. A number of people
are trying both ways: (a) the old 5 leaf rule and (b) removing just the
spent blossom to see which works best.
Deadheading
before the seeds can mature is for those people that want to control
what plant goes where as well as to keep volunteer numbers down.
CLEOME (Spider Flower),
MEXICAN HATS, GOLDENROD, COSMOS,
POPPIES, TALL PHLOX, plus others are well known for their many
seeds. However, if you don’t care, then let them go. The last few years
I have a new plant called MEXICAN
HAIR GRASS. It is not hardy here but I have many seedlings as far as
10 feet away from the parent.
I like it very much for stems that blow in the wind. It is about
18 inches high with thick blond hair. One of my paths is completely
loaded with plants about 2 inches high.
Another reason
for deadheading is to urge plants to try again. One purpose in the life
of a plant is to preserve the species. Therefore many, but not all
plants, will put out new buds after deadheading. Among these are
CENTHRANTHUS, DELPHINIUMS, GLOBE
THISTLES, many of the
PENSTAMONS, VERONICAS
(Speedwell), TALL PHLOX, and
DIANTHUS. There are others requiring a more drastic action such as
cutting all the way back to rejuvenate the plant.
A general rule is (a) if the flower stem is bare cut it all the
way down, or (b) if the stems have leaves then cut just the tired bloom
off.
Some flowers,
such as PETUNIAS bloom
heavily for some time before becoming scraggly. But when they do, one
can cut the entire plant back quite severely to survive another blooming
session. Sometimes the packet containing seeds will recommend whether or
not to deadhead. There are some plants that do their own.
For example, the very popular newer rose
KNOCKOUT. Some plant tags
give you instructions about deadheading.
Also, there are a number of people who like to leave seed heads
on during winter either for bird food or winter interest.
Another closely
related task to deadheading is the one in which shrubs become too wide,
too tall, or just scraggly looking.
If you cut them all the way down there will be a blank space for
one or several years. The
most common method is to go in and remove one-third to one-fourth of the
stems. Usually you take out the tallest, or the barest, or the oldest
stalks all the way to the ground. This is best way to prune
FRENCH
LILAC, FORSYTHIA, FLOWERING ALMOND, BRIDAL WREATH SPIREA, and some
other spring blooming shrubs. This way there is no huge gap and you
don’t lose all the blooms for several years. Repeat this process for the
next three to four years and then you have a brand new plant. For
FRENCH LILAC it is good to do this every year as this is a good way
to control the LILAC
You can cut the entire shrub or plant way down at once on some
plants, but you lose the bloom for at least two years and maybe longer.
I like to do this in late fall to
SPIREA, BARBERRY, ANNABELLE
HYDRANGEA, and
SHRUB DOGWOOD. If you do it
any sooner in the year it will stimulate new growth that will be
destroyed by frost. You also need to be careful which plant you cut
when. If the plant or shrub blooms in the spring on old wood, such as
the FORSYTHIA, and
LILAC, it must be done after
flowering. Plants such as
CAROPTERIS (Blue Spirea) and
Buddleia davidii (our most common
BUTTERFLY BUSH) bloom on new
wood so they can be cut down in winter or early spring. Because of our
unpredictable winter, it is generally advised to wait until spring.
I have a WISTERIA in
bloom now that I will cut all the way back as soon as it finishes. I
will not have any bloom next year but it branches so wildly it becomes
tangled and the blooms don’t show well. It will be up within a week and
wrapping around its pole tightly.
Buddleia alternifolia (BUTTERFLY
BUSH) blooms on old wood and any trimming needs to be done
immediately after blooming while
Buddleia davidii (our most common
BUTTERFLY BUSH) blooms on new
wood. I generally cut it all the way back after frost, put a cage around
it, and fill it with compost in
case we have a nasty winter.
The compost is taken out in spring to spread around the plant as mulch.
It also prevents many weed seeds from starting. Copyright 2014 |