Deadheading is the act of removing spent blooms from your ornamental plants. Just think if it, you can go out there and snap off heads to your heart's delight and not a soul will confront you. There is something satisfying in that, don't you think?
Let's use pansies for an example. I like to follow the stem of the spent bloom down to its base and, using my thumbnail, just snap it off. This will make the plant look fresh and forestall the setting of seeds.
Pansy is an annual, and an annual will live for just one growing season. The whole point of an annual is to set seed and die. Once an annual starts setting seed you can forget about any more blooms. And really, annuals are all about the blooms. By deadheading you are tricking the plant into thinking that the growing season will be endless. Poor thing. But you are after color and this is the surest way to achieve that effect.
Perennials, the plants that come back year after year, if we are lucky, will respond to deadheading differently than an annual. They will not continue to bloom but the energy will go back into the plant. This makes for a nice strong plant come spring.
When the deadheading chore is upon me, as it is now, I carry around an inexpensive wicker laundry basket. As I cut spent blooms, I drop them into the basket. I must say that it is a rather pretty tableau.
If I had my heart's desire, I would burn the blooms and return their ashes to the garden. But there is a lovely meadow in front of us with a noble stand of spruce and birch trees in front of that. Burning anything is out of the question.
But the remarkable thing about deadheading is how good everything looks when you are finished.
Take the peonies for example. They are past their initial flush of bloom. As magnificent as that was, those first blooms are looking brown and shedding petals all over the place. Underplanted with those peonies are forget-me-nots and campanula glomerata. Both are notorious self-sowers, meaning they will come up everywhere next growing season, more than you can possibly imagine. Now is the time to get a handle on that situation.
Into the basket go clumps of forget-me-nots. That's correct, whole clumps. These are last year's plants and they looked very good indeed up until now. And now they must go. This year's plants are left and still blooming quite nicely. They look hardy and tidy and are still offering their gentle blue to the garden.
The campanula glomerata is a different story. I cut them down to the base of the flower stem. I would like them to come back strong next season so I will leave the whole plant alone.
The peonies have side buds. In this case, I will remove the spent center bloom and leave the side buds to open, which they will do with gusto once the main bloom is gone.
The overall effect is not as powerful as when all of the main blooms are open but, nonetheless, this particular perennial bed with these combinations is looking refreshed and ready to continue the show, albeit somewhat subdued.
Refresh is the operative word here; it goes hand in glove with deadhead.
If you let the spent blooms remain in place you will be missing out on whatever is next in line to bloom.
For me, my eye is drawn to the spent bloom. As much as I love veronica, when it is finished blooming there is nothing more annoying. Once that is removed I can appreciate the astounding display of Asiatic lilies that are almost everywhere in this garden. With no more spiky, spent veronica I can truly appreciate the ammi that is growing around the bird bath.
Why keep dianthus deltoides, Arctic Fire, around after it has gone to seed? Who cares about it anymore? Besides, if you don't remove this plant it will spread all over your garden and you will regret it for the rest of your life. Now that it is gone there is room for the annual godetia to bloom its heart out.
Deadheading is valuable up to a point. If all the spent blooms are removed there won't be any seed for next year. Thus you will want to leave enough seed heads for next year's crop. Godetia is the perfect example. If I had managed to keep up with the deadheading on the godetia last year, I would not now be enjoying the very beginning of a dazzling display of this faithful garden annual.
Poppies are another plant that you will want to leave a few seed pods. Right now there is the California poppy, Champagne and Roses, and Shirley poppies blooming where they landed from last year. Excellent.
This year I started Lauren's Grape poppy from seed and my intention is to let a few of these self-sow and come up where they may next year. It makes for a rather comfortable overall effect.
Some seed pods, like peony and poppy, make interesting dried arrangements. Now that you all know how easy it is to dry your peony blooms, why not add a seed pod or two to the arrangement?
So there is a lesson here: deadhead enough to refresh your overall planting, but leave enough seed pods to self-sow for next year.
Note: Order your garlic now for the fall planting. I wanted to try Rosewood this year but it is already sold out. More and more vendors are offering garlic but here is my tried and true: Filaree Farm, 182 Conconully Highway, Okanogan, WA 98840, or call (509) 422-6940, or e-mail info@filareefarm.com or www.filareefarm.com.
Rosemary Fitzpatrick has been gardening with gusto in Homer for 27 years.
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