Re: dead heading everything?

susannah@cyber-dyne.com wrote:
> 
> It's hard to imagine that anything would be actually be harmed by
> deadheading, but for some plants it's not worth doing.  This varies a
> lot, and I think all you can do is figure it out by trial and error,
> or by asking a gardening friend (like here).  For example, in my
> experience deadheading the yellow perennial coriopsis (lanceolota, I
> think) is a lot of work and has no effect -- whether I cut them or
> not, they have a huge flush of blooms in June, and then shift to
> making smaller numbers of flowers for the rest of the summer.  On the
> other hand, with the annual coriopsis (my experience is mainly with
> the maroon-red strain), deadheading results in another beautiful huge
> flush of flowers.  As well as a supply of seed for next year :-).  I
> do deadhead my penstemons, but I can't say if it's necessary or not
> because I haven't tried  *not*  doing it yet <g>.

Hi
Two different operations seem to be involved under the general umbrella
of "deadheadings". The one I take it you folks are thinking of here is
just removing the flowers to get a fresh flush of blooms. As Susanna
finds, this seems to be largely a case of trial and error. For a start
with any new plant I would be inclined to try just one plant ( Or only
half the stems if I have just one) and leave the rest alone to find out
firstly if the operation is safe (not leading to the plant sulking or
even dying off) and secondly whether it produces the desired result of
increased further flowering. One could also experiment with simply
removing the flowers versus cutting back the flowering stems.

The other operation which I suppose could also be called deadheading is
the cutting back of all flowering stems at the end of the blooming
season in fall or just before new growth starts in spring. Penstemons
are a kind  which really seems to benefit from this as though the stems
don't die off entirely (like Asters for instance) if you leave them from
year to year the  new flowering shoots which develop on them gradually
become smaller and the flowers sparser (not tmention the plnts becoming
lanky and inclined to fall over). If on the other hand they are cut near
to the base before new growth starts you will get lovely new strong
flowering shoots growing up.

As to the perennials which need cutting back after flowering anyway, may
I make a plea for you to keep the stems until spring even if they look a
bit untidy. Many desirable insects in your garden and also friendly
insect-devouring spiders depend on them as a safe place to lay
overwintering eggs.

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
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