Removing Faded Flowers for Better Looking Plants

Removing faded flowers can promote repeat bloom and more compact, healthier growth.

Remove the fading flowers of begonia and ageratum during wet weather to reduce disease problems.

Deadhead heavy seeders like columbine and valerian that you want to keep contained. Or allow some seeds to develop if you have space to fill or want lots of seedlings to transplant and share with others.

Cut back bleeding heart, halfway, after flowering. This promotes new leaf growth, so the plant won’t go dormant mid-summer.

Allow seedheads to develop on Siberian iris and other plants with seedheads that provide winter interest.

Consider removing the developing flowers of lamb’s ear if you prefer the foliage over the flowers. This encourages more compact growth and an overall better-looking plant. This is true for coleus as well. Flowerless varieties of these plants and self-branching coleus hybrids eliminate this task.

A bit more information: Consider deadheading columbine hybrids so the energy goes into the plant, extending its life in the garden. Otherwise you will have a shorter-lived parent plant and lots of seedlings that usually don’t look like their more expensive parents.