A question for any gardeners out there

A

arizonawildcat

Well-known member
Do you deadhead (a new meaning of the word for me) your flower beds? I was told I have to do this to ensure that the plant continually produces flowers. If you do, how often do you do it? I find it to be a very tedious and time-consuming chore.
 
 
Not a big gardener, but yes I do deadhead my flower beds. It extends the color producing life of the plant.
 
eastside_purple said:
Isn't that just a term for pruning?
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Less drastic than pruning. With deadheading, at least the way I was shown how to do it, you just pull off the spent flowers to make room for new ones. Pruning usually removes foliage as well. I think of pruning more in line with the shaping/size control of shrubs and trees.
 
arizonawildcat said:
Do you deadhead (a new meaning of the word for me) your flower beds? I was told I have to do this to ensure that the plant continually produces flowers. If you do, how often do you do it? I find it to be a very tedious and time-consuming chore.
Click to expand...

Just saw I didn't answer the 2nd part of your question. During peak growing season I might do it once or twice a week. I just kind of look at the plants and if I see a large number of spent flowers building up I go ahead and deadhead them. For me it's a perfect activity to do while having a beer and listening to the Reds on the radio.

It is worth doing. Before I learned about it the flowers I would plant in late May or early June would look pretty bad by mid to late July. Now I can often get them to look good through Labor Day depending on the species (and how well the Reds are doing :D ).
 
I do it, and it started out as tedious, but I've come to appreciate the quiet time it provides me...maybe I'm just getting old though;)
 
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