Fading flowers make beds, borders and pots unattractive, and removing these by deadheading is part of the summer garden cycle to get the best from your flowers.
Single flowers usually produce seeds, which soaks up the plant’s energy. Lilies are a typical example, where seedpods are best removed so that the plant focuses on a bigger bulb for next year.
Plants to be deadheaded include bedding plants and other tender perennials including canna and dahlias, which will reward you with flowers until the autumn frosts.
Simply pluck, break or snip off the spent flowers and add to the compost heap. Remove the stalk, too, as stalk remnants are also unsightly. Deadhead to a pair of healthy leaves.
Use finger and thumb, scissors, snips, knife or secateurs, depending on the strength and thickness of stems. Using the easiest, quickest method aids timeliness – leaving spent flowers for two weeks before removing them is much less effective than being rid as soon as they are over.
