Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 142 5/24/17 12:12 PM
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 143 5/24/17 12:12 PM142 chapter 3DEADHEADING
AND PINCHING
Two other tasks to be performed from time to
time are deadheading and pinching. While you
can take these two jobs off your to-do list if you’re
growing vegetables, they’re important chores for
keeping flowers and herbs in tip-top shape.Deadheading
Deadheading is a term we gardeners use when
removing the old, spent flower heads from a
blooming plant. The practice encourages the
production of new blooms by preventing the plant
from setting seed (and using lots of energy to do
so). Removing spent flowers often cues the plant
to produce another set of blooms.
Deadheading is an ongoing chore, beginning as
soon as the first peony petals fall and continuing
until the last annual has been touched by frost,
but midsummer is the prime deadheading season.
Perennials such as peonies (Paeonia spp.), lilies
(Lilium spp.), Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale),
delphiniums (Delphinium spp.), and beardediris (Iris germanica), typically bloom only once
per season, so deadheading these plants won’t
encourage more blooms. Instead, it tidies them
up and encourages further growth on the rest
of the plant. In other words, these plants are
deadheaded mostly for aesthetic reasons.
There are, however, many other plants that
flower repeatedly throughout the growing season,
and as long as they’re regularly deadheaded, the
plant will continue to generate more blooms.
Deadheading freshens up the plant’s overall
appearance and often generates fresh, new foliage
as well. When the spent bloom is removed, side-
buds are formed and go on to develop subsequent
flushes of flowers. Most flowering annuals fit
in this category, along with some perennials,
including Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x
superbum), perennial sage (Salvia spp.), bee balm
(Monarda spp.), yarrow (Achillea spp.), butterfly
bushes (Buddleia spp.), garden phlox (Phlox
paniculata), coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), Coreopsis
(Coreopsis spp.), and some black-eyed SusansDeadheading is the term used when removing an old, spent flower head from a blooming plant.Text Black Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete #175 Dtp: 229 Page: 142700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 142 5/24/17 1:07 PM
Caring for Your Containers 143(Rudbeckia spp.). Deadheading flowering plants
several times throughout the growing season
is a great way to ensure constant color in your
container garden.Tips for Deadheading
- For plants whose flowers occur on stalks that
have leaves along them, follow the tip of the
faded bloom all the way back to where you
see the first few leaves emerging from the
stem. Snip or snap off the flower stalk just
above these leaves. Do not leave a lengthy
stump behind, as it could succumb to botrytis
or another fungal disease as it naturally rots
away. Plants in this category include butterfly
bush, Monarda, cosmos, snapdragons, black-
eyed Susans, zinnias, annual geraniums
(Pelargonium x hortorum), salvias, Shasta
daisies, sedums, dahlias (Dahlia spp.), and
many, many others. - For plants with large flowering stalks that
do not have foliage along them, like daylilies
(Hemerocallis spp.), hosta, or bearded iris, cut
the entire flowering stem all the way back
down to the crown of the plant, where the
foliage emerges from the ground. - For plants with mounded foliage and many
small flowers, it’s often easier to shear back
the entire plant rather than removing the
spent flowers one by one. Plants like coreopsis,
bidens, sweet alyssum, French marigolds,
ageratum, nepeta, dianthus (Dianthus spp.), and
lavender (Lavandula spp.) should be sheared
once or twice throughout the growing season
to encourage more blooms. - Some flowering plants don’t need to be
deadheaded at all. There is a hearty handful
of plants that pump out new blooms and
always look fresh, even without deadheading.
These easy-care plants might need to be
pinched back from time to time (see the next
section), but they’ll be in constant bloom
almost all season long. Plants on this list
include impatiens, lobelia, nemesia, torenia,
oxalis, wax begonias, dragon- and angelwing
begonias, calibrachoa, diascia (Diascia spp.),
and some petunias, among others.There is, however, one occasion when you don’t
want to deadhead. If you’d like a particular plant
to purposefully set seed, then don’t remove its
spent flowers. It’s easy to collect and save your
own seed from lots of different flowering annuals,
perennials, and herbs. You can save a lot of
money by using collected and saved seeds to start
the following year’s container garden. Cosmos,
zinnias, amaranth, calendula, dill, and sunflowers
are easy plants to start with. Simply wait for a
few of the seed heads to fully dry, then cut them
from the plant and allow them to finish drying in
a cool, dry room for a few weeks. Then crack the
seed heads apart, pull out the seeds, and store
them in sealed glass jars or plastic containers
until next spring.
Some gardeners also stop deadheading as late-
summer approaches to allow some of their plants
to set seed for birds such as goldfinches, cardinals,
chickadees, and other seed-eaters.
Deadheading is an especially important task
if your container garden is serving double-duty
as pollinator habitat. Pollinating insects, such as
butterflies and bees, need a constant source of
nectar, and if you want these beneficial bugs to
stick around, having a container garden that’s
in continual bloom is a must. The following two
projects are great ways to start supporting these
two groups of important insects with a specialized
container garden created just for them.Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete#175 Dtp: 229 Page: 142 (^) Text Black Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete #175 Dtp: 229 Page: 143
700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 143 5/24/17 1:07 PM