Deadheading is the process of cutting off wilted flowers from your plants, once they have finished blooming.
The main reason we deadhead is to encourage the plants to create new blooms, extend the beauty in our gardens, and in some cases to promote plant health. You can think of it as letting the plant know that it doesn’t need send nutrients to the now-wilted flowerhead. Instead of work on developing seeds, deadheading allows the plant to focus on growing the next flower.
But just because deadheading can make a big difference in our gardens, it doesn’t mean we should be going secateur-mad and beheading all our flowers at the first sign of browning!
Hopefully, this article will help give you some guidance on how to prolong the blooms in your garden by deadheading carefully and with a plan.
To deadhead, or not to deadhead
It’s important to know that not all flowering plants require or benefit from deadheading. And even amongst types of plants that generally will benefit, such as roses, there are some varieties that will bloom again after deadheading, but also many that won’t.
Before you get the snippers out, read up about the flowers in your garden, and determine whether deadheading is right for them.
Common flowers that will benefit from deadheading include:
Continuous or repeat-blooming roses, cosmos, lavender, peonies, delphiniums, petunias and marigolds.
Flowers that you should not deadhead include:
Sunflowers, foxgloves, viburnum and asters.
Keep in mind that deadheading reduces seed heads. Not only are these beneficial to local wildlife, but many gardeners take immense joy from letting their self-seeding plants prosper and multiply next season.
Where and how to cut?
There is no hard and fast rule that can be applied to all flowers for where to cut when deadheading. So once again, our advice is to do some research before you grab the secateurs.
The important thing when deadheading is to remove the part of the flower that will be developing into a seedhead. For roses, think of the rosehip. So cutting low enough on the stem is important – but of course not cutting so low that you prevent regrowth from occurring.
If you’re a bold pruner, you may be tempted to cut too low down. Remember that deadheading is not about cutting back the whole plant, but removing the flowerhead so that the plant can reflower.
For many plants, such as roses and cosmos, the advice is to cut the stem just above the first set of leaves below the wilted flowerhead.
For flowers such as petunias, the recommendation is to remove the whole flower stem, down to the thicker main stem.
The ‘how’ of your deadheading will matter in some cases and not so much in others. Rose gardeners will tell you to make a diagonal snip, for example. Whereas petunias can be removed with your fingers, a little pinch and tug, instead of cutting.
What tools and equipment do I need for deadheading?
While some plants can be pinched out using your fingers, many will need to be snipped. So, you’ll want a pair of secateurs, pruning scissors, or other snippers that are strong enough to smoothly cut through the stems of the plant you’re deadheading.
For roses, you will also need gloves or even gauntlet gloves, to protect your hands and arms from prickly thorns.
We always recommend keeping your tools sharp, to make the cutting process easy and smooth, and avoiding unintentional damage to the plant. It’s also important to keep them clean, to avoid spreading fungal infections or diseases that could harm your plants.
When should I deadhead?
In general, the time to deadhead is when the flower has wilted. Don’t leave it too long, as the seedhead will start to form, and you also risk the wilted petals attracting pests as they further decompose.
But, oh dear, once again, our advice is to research the beautiful flowers you’re hoping to prolong. Because each type of flower will need deadheading at different times and on a different schedule. For some, you can deadhead almost daily. For others, once a week or once a fortnight will suffice. For some flowers, such as roses and marigold, regular deadheading throughout the summer will mean a continuous crop of beautiful blooms. Whereas for others, such as delphiniums and lavender, it’s about removing all the flowers once they’ve wilted, in order to have a glorious second bloom later in the summer.
Avoid deadheading soon after moving a plant or if there have been extreme weather conditions such as drought or very hot days. Once the summer moves towards Autumn, stop deadheading your flowers so that seed pods can form. These can add texture and beauty to your garden in the colder months, be beneficial for birds and wildlife, and also help reseed your garden for next year.
In some cases, it can be worthwhile waiting until winter to deadhead and prune, but this does depend on the plants you have in your garden, so be sure to do your research before starting.
So what are our mistakes to avoid?
- Deadheading plants that won’t benefit from it – remember to read up and check whether your variety of plant will bloom again after deadheading
- Only removing the flowerhead – for many plants, it’s not just the wilted petals that should be removed, but some of the stem below them as well
- Cutting the wrong part of the plant – some plants will flower again no matter where you deadhead, but others can be more temperamental, so check before you start cutting
- Cutting at the wrong time – most plants should be deadheaded once the flower has wilted, before seed heads form
- Confusing deadheading with pruning – don’t cut too much!
- Deadheading too late in the year – seedheads can be both beautiful and important for the habitat of our gardens over winter, so be ready to stop deadheading at the end of summer.
And alongside those, our number one top tip is to get your gardening book out or hop onto a search engine to look up the type and variety of flower you are looking to deadhead. Make sure you know that deadheading is right for that plant, and learn what is recommended for the timing and technique to make the most of your wonderful flowering plants this summer.