Re: Deadheading

I think the first year of a perennial one has to be satisfied if the plant
just sits there, but from the second year on, one should see it really take off;

I have The Well Tended Perennial Garden, and have read what it says about
deadheading, although I found parts of it a little confusing;

taking the book's advice, I have been deadheading the zillions of heliopsis
that grows on our land, and await the results;

I did something else, that I have never seen recommended in a book, but
which, when it happened by accident and gave such good results, I now
believe in, which is to bend the stem of a tall growing plant very gently
until it gives a little; 

the result, with tomatoes and cosmos last year, was that all along the stem
shoots appear so one gets a lot more bloom from the one plant; I did this to
red lychnis that I grew from seed last year, and which have come up like
crazy now.

Isabelle Hayes

>Hi Louise,
>I, too, am a second year gardener with perennials. 
>Last year I was absolutely religious about
>deadheading.  My aim was to encourage a second
>flowering, and in most cases, I was successful. 
>However, as a direct result, I have few, if any,
>seedlings this year. On the other hand, my plants,
>whose growth could not by any stretch of the
>imagination be called "lush" last year, are growing
>this year like they were inhabitants of a rain forest.
> In fact I have to laugh because many people on this
>list encouraged me to plant annuals to fill in the
>bare spots. Since I take advice from people on this
>list as if God were speaking , I went out this spring
>and bought annuals to fill in the bare spots.  Now,
>the galloping growth of my perennials has literally
>buried the annuals I planted and I can't even see
>where I planted them.  It's kind of too bad because I
>was kind of fond of the snapdragons and dahlias I
>filled in with.
>I'm kind of wondering if my dedication to deadheading
>last summer is a factor in the spectacular growth I am
>seeing this year.  Maybe, since the plants didn't have
>to use up any energy producing seed, they used all
>their energy to produce the growth that I am seeing
>this year.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this
>subject?
>Jeanne
>
>===
>Jeanne
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