98 PruninG Perennials
Plants like balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) and peachleaf bellflower
(Campanula persicifolia) require careful deadheading of each individual flower
along the stem. New buds are produced adjacent to the old flowers along the
stem, and if the stem is cut back to the foliage before this flowering is completed,
the bloom period will be greatly shortened.
Perennials such as Gypsophila paniculata, Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’,
and species of Aquilegia and Hemerocallis, which have branching flowering stems,
also require careful attention to detail when being deadheaded. Deadheading for
these plants involves cutting the old flower and its stem down to a lateral
flowering stem or bud; then, when this next lateral stem or bud is done flowering,
it is cut down to another lateral flowering stem, if present, or, if not, to the basal
foliage. With daylilies (species of Hemerocallis), the individual deadheads—
which become wet, slimy, mummy-shaped dead flowers or, as I like to call them,
“mush-mummies”—first should be pruned or snapped off using your fingers,The ugly deadheads or
“mush-mummies” of daylilies
are not attractive additions
to any garden and are best
pruned off.
Snap the entire deadhead off
daylilies with your fingers.