Your Guide To Deadheading Flowers This Spring

While deadheading flowers sure sounds morbid, the simple practice is highly recommended if you want to encourage further blooms in your garden through summer. For most avid gardeners, flowers that provide a bounty of colour for as long as possible is the ultimate end goal – why have just the one “wave” at the start of spring, when you could have more? When your plants have finished flowering and the blooms are starting to fade, turn brown or curl up – it’s your cue to put your gloves on, whip out the scissors, and start trimming away the spent blooms, otherwise known as deadheading flowers. 

Why You Should Be Deadheading Flowers

While it can at times feel like a never ending task or chore, deadheading flowers and spent blooms will eventually reward you – and your garden – with a fresh wave of colour. 

As flowers inevitably shed their petals and begin the process of forming new seed heads again, the plant’s energy is focused on the development of new seeds as opposed to the existing flowers. The process of deadheading, or removing the existing blooms, channels the energy back into the flowers, resulting in another bloom cycle. Not only will you save the plant’s resources, but you’ll also make your garden look much neater by limiting the green waste from the spent flowers. 

How To Start Deadheading Flowers 

Although tedious, the process of deadheading flowers is actually quite simple, especially if you are already spending time in your garden on a regular (or daily) basis. 

As the plants begin to fade out of bloom, you will start to notice some of your flowers losing their “sparkle” – think browning, fading, starting to drop petals, and just looking a little bit drab in general. It’s at this point that you should begin to pinch, cut or remove a section of the stem just below the spent flower in question, or just above the first set of full, healthy leaves. Once you’re able to start actioning this regularly, your plants will recommence the flowering process again, and ultimately saves you both time and energy. 

Which Types Of Plants Require Deadheading? 

It’s important to note that not every flowering plant requires deadheading. Your leafy friends will often give you clues about which need deadheading and which don’t simply by watching them – if the flowers stay on the plant while they become brown and ultimately unattractive, then it’s time to get the scissors out to start the deadheading process. 

While perennial flowers usually benefit the most from the deadheading process, it’s also considered to be a hit with most annual flower varieties such as petunias, zinnias and marigolds. 

On the other hand, there’s also plenty of plant varieties that have their built in self-cleaning process, and their spent blooms naturally “drop off” without any third party assistance. Just a handful of these include most flowering vines and many types of ground covers. 

Looking For Further Advice?

Whether you’re on the hunt for more tips with how to start gardening more efficiently at home, or further insights regarding an alternative for chemical based plant food, fertilisers or weed killers – then it’s always worth speaking to the professionals. 

Here at Bioweed, we specialise in environmentally friendly gardening products, including herbicides, plant probiotics, and natural alternatives to traditional gardening solutions. Should you have any questions about how to improve the sustainability of your home, garden or agricultural crop, get in touch with us today.