Are you a Deadheader?

I raise my hand on this one. Love walking among my day lilies with a small bucket and grooming the plants. Also zinnias, I dislike the looks of the old flowers and getting rid of them promotes more blooms.
Here is a good article I just found to help you along with deadheading.
http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/off-with-their-heads.aspx?nterms=74852

Lady, Great article. I dead head the Daylilies daily. I also do the Asiatic & Orientals daily. The Galliardia, Salvias, Coreopsis and Echies I do weekly. The rest as I get the time or when they start to look really bad. Between dead heading and staking, there's goes almost half of my daily gardening time.

Lady, The answer is yes and no.

I am such a compulsive deadheader that I have been known to deadhead while visiting Williamsburg or while walking from my car into the doctor's office. I was once verbally warned at a well-known garden in Florida to cease or leave. I can't help wanting to help out--ya know what I mean? Of course you do!

The problem is I'm currently at odds with whether to deadhead in my own garden. Hard to believe, I mean I can hardly believe it myself. I have read here in the very pages of Dave's Garden, by people that I admire and regard as superb gardeners, that they actually leave many of their flowers undeadheaded (if such a word exists) for root health, winter hardiness, and laziness (oh no I didn't really mean that). These DG gardeners say they are leaving them as nature intended 'for the birds'. In my own garden stand two large clumps of rudbeckia (Goldstrum) that are quickly going from perfection to (as you said) deadheads. This being the first time I have grown such super flowers, I am somewhat afraid of them, overawed, and so I have chosen to do nothing as they go to seed before my eyes. So what to do, what to do. Should I continue to supress my natural tendency to deadhead or let nature take its course? Dear Lady, what advice do you have for me?

Pam

Pam, The flowers this year have had a very good run. I feel it is due to the rain fall and cooler temps we had. I deadhead a lot of my plants to keep them looking neat and tidy. But also let some go to seed for collecting.
I feed the birds and have not seen flocks of birds eating the flower seeds.
I do cut down my perennials and pull up annuals in the late fall as the heavy snows we have up here in NW Pa knock down all the seed stalks and this really makes a mess and the job of trying to tidy the beds in the spring a lot more work. I do leave a few inches of stalk to catch and hold fallen leaves in the fall for protection.
I guess it comes down to a personal choice,the plant and what you need/want to accomplish.

Pam that is funny that you were asked to stop this activity in Fl. I don't think it was Disney, I don't remember seeing any to deadhead there and I have visited many times, if there was I'm sure some seeds would have made the trip home with me. LOL

Stormy, your beds always look so neat in your photos, that is a sign of a true deadheader. ☺

Thanks, Lady. They aren't very neat right now. I haven't been out there working for 2 weeks before today. Galliardia always needs dead heading. I always find stuff that I missed too. Found 3 plant supports today & 3 yesterday. I swore that I had gotten them all. Found 3 or 4 DL scapes (non Stella). Thought I checked those about 6 or 7 times. I broke down today and finally staked the taller asters.

Pam, you bring up a good point about those who don't practise deadheading. Off and on, I've been reading in both the Rose & Echie forums of folks who believe that pruning & deadheading are making the plants, in effect, bloom themselves to death. Every time we prune/clip we are actually artificially forcing the plant to rebloom and robbing all of the nutrients away from the plant that should be going into fortifying the stems and roots to prepare for next year's bloom. This might be so. I know that many of the Rosarians are completely against using any of the synthetic foods that promote blooms for that very reason.

Claypa was telling me that the new school of thought is not to amend the soil in your planting holes in any way. He says the plant roots will never leave the immediate area of the amended soil and will in effect create a pot bound condition in the earth. He claims that he doesn't amend his planting holes at all. So what is that bugger using for magic dust?? Does he take his drums outside at night and play for them?? A spying trip may be in order here.

Well---
Maybe claypa has the perfect gardening conditions.....any bed--anywhere---full of great soil and NO tree roots. Just dig and plant...How I wish I had that environment....

I have 2- 40yr. old Maples in my small back yard (as many of you already know) and I CANNOT just dig and plant anywhere---and leave the rest to the gods....Matter of fact--I can hardly dig at all! Roots everywhere! Water is all sopped up by the trees.

If I were not to amend the soil in some way--I would have nothing! The trees always win! They are bigger and sap all the water and nutrients out of the soil first.

Gardening is one of my biggest pleasures-----and also one of my biggest frustrations.

I SO envy people that show their spacious, woodsy gardens--with anywhere to dig and plant. Large expanses of just beds--growing as they wish. NO organized beds..Yeah! Wishful thinking....
Development lots leave a lot to be desired as far as gardening goes.....you just do not have the freedom to garden as you wish nor the space to do it in. BooooHoooo My WHOLE property is 65'x100'. Hardly spacious!

Love all your photos, though!

Gita

Gita

Lady what a good topic. I do some dead heading but not near as much as I would like. I like a manicured look in my garden but I don't think I will ever have that. LOL Maybe when the garden projects and new beds are in I will have more time to weed and deadhead. At Least that is what I keep telling myself. I also thought I would like to have some self seeding so I left some heads for that and didn't use a pre-emergent like I usually do. Honestly though I don't recognize most of the seedlings until they get pretty good size. Unless they are unique in color or shape I really can't tell.
I do leave some for the birds, well it is a good excuse and I do see alot of finches in my flower beds even though I do have plenty of feeders.

Stormy, So glad to hear you are out and about in your garden again. Hope that means you are feeling better. I have heard that before especially in areas with heavy clay. But what I have heard is don't just dig a round hole with straight sides and dump in good soil and plant. In heavy clay you are practically building a clay pot in the ground. You can amend but you need to dig a larger hole with somewhat irregular sides. Use good soil close then an area of good soil with the dirt from the hole mixed so that the roots don't just go from good to bad, it is a more gradual change. Dig out pockets in the sides and use a hand claw to score and crumble the dirt on the walls of the hole. That will encourage the roots to go outward and then they will continue. I don't do this with every plant but I always plant trees and bushes with this method.

Holly, I always mix some of the native soil in with my planting dirt, but I do not score the sides of the hole. Maybe I'll start doing that.

Have lots of Monarda & Echies to deadhead today. Also tons of glads to cut down. I think this will be my last season for glads. They just require too much staking for such a short bloom period. This year I didn't stake them and they really looked a mess. Staking was the reason I stopped growing Dahlias. They needed to be restaked constantly.

Tomorrow I'll probably deadhead the Helianthus & Heliopsis. I've only done them twice this summer and they have been in bloom continuously. I've read reccomendations to deadhead them and other folks say just let them go. What do you all do with them?

Usually at the end of the season, I stop deadheading and leave things for the birds and winter interest. Last year I really cut almost everything in the garden down as I was trying to eliminate any hiding places for the voles and breeding spots for slugs. I may do this again this year as the slugs were really bad this year. I did not use the amonia drench as early in the season as I should have and early on they did a lot of damage to my hosta, with lots of little holes.

Since I started the amonia drench, the slug damage has pretty much stopped. I only drenched the hosta. This year the slugs ate the heck out of my Ligularia, so I will drench them this fall and next spring. I love the fall color of the Hosta and leave the leaves up as long as possible. But this year I will give them a really good amonia drench after I cut the leaves. I still have many Hosta blooming, so they will need deadheading again this season. I hate when the blossums fall onto and then stick to the Hosta leaves. It's bad enough that I have to clean all of the Hosta leaves after the Mulberries are done dropping. I don't want a repeat of that chore from the dead blossums. Off with the spikes!!!

Holly---

Do tell--WHAT goes in an Ammonia drench and how often do you use it and what does it do to the slugs.....How about the plants? Any harm to them?

Thanks, Gita

I wish! I barely manage a round or two of deadheading each year before I give up. I never seem to have enough time. When I read about some of you with "daily" garden time, I am envious. My "daily" time tend to be moving through the gardens on some errand or another. LOL. I'll say I'm leaving deadheads for the bird. Yea...That sounds good....mmmhmmmm.

Gita, We've not ever used this method as yet. I believe Stomy has.From what I have read it's most effective used as a soil drench to kill egg stage in the soil, I have seen recommendations anywhere from 10% to 80%. The lesser solutions should be the safest as far as not burning the tender foliage of emerging hostas. The ammonia itself should break down to nitrogen, so it may have 2 benefits feeding as well. Holly said get yourself a couple chickens, LOL. When they free range early in the morning they gobble up the slugs before they hide for the day, we're sure they reduced our slug damage. Ric

Yeah, Ric.....
I can just see me having bunch of chickens in a development....I am sure the "forces" would be after me.....
I have a friend, Helen, that has chickens. She lives in Jerretsville--kind of the outskirts "boondocks" of Baltimore Co.
She has different ones--but one of them lays light blue eggs.....

To me--eggs are eggs--except, maybe, around Easter.....

Yeah! i know i am a killjoy!

Gita

The ammonia is only poured around the plants, not on them. The slugs were really bad this year and most of the folks in the Hosta forum have been reducing the dilution ratio. It seems to work best at 1 to 10 or 1 to 15. It will also kill adult slugs. It should be applied monthly, but I've only done it 3 times this year.

At first it was cumbersome, but then I bought a 16oz soup ladle on Ebay and carry a 5 gal bucket through the beds ladling it out. It goes quickly. The bucket is heavy when full, so I start in an area that has lots of Hosta close together and leave it on the ground and work from it until it's light enough to carry.

This has been far more effective and less than a quarter of the price of Sluggo. I buy it in large quantities at the dollar store. At least at the end of the season, I don't worry about trying to use it all up as about that time, it's time to clean the chandeliers and windows again!

I've just ordered another set of benefical nematodes to try to get the larvae of so many of the critters that will be maturing next spring. I've read that a September application is crucial to control the slugs and beetles for the next year. Arbico Organics has them on sale right now.

I confess that I did not get around to deadheading today. Did some planting and weeding and then spent almost 3 hours watering. No rain again for 2 weeks now and everything is parched.

Going to tackle another long-ignored project today. Just gotta do it mindset.....

I have had about 3 large containers of Basil growing since Spring. Never have I picked a leaf off of one of them! Every time I am out on my Patio (daily!) I look at all these Basils going to seed and growing 2' tall and say to myself...."You HAVE TO make some pesto!"

As they were calling for rain toda--I quickly went outside and mowed my lawn. Then, as the day was cool and pleasant--I started cutting back and pulling off leaves from all my Sweet Basils.
My Thai and Lemon/Lime basil has already set seeds and bloomed. Gonna let those be----Same for Jill's Italian basil. Gonna let it go to seed as well, since this seed is so scarce.....

SO! Now I have one of those shallow, rectangular beer boxes full of Basil leaves. Heaping full!
Time to get my food processor out and get to it.
Then I put about 1/2 cup amts. in these little zip-snack bags and freeze it. Mostly--I give it away. I am not a big pasta eater. Like I give many other things away......
It is a messy, messy job and I hate the clean-up. BUT-=-gotta do it!

Gita

Gita, Just "how" many beer boxes do you have? ;-} LOL
Yes I find they come in very handy, too. LOL
I have been hungry for pesto, we have never made any and I would like to give it a try.
Ric and I were just out walking the Veggie garden and checking out all the things that need to be done. I won't be out there today but I hope weather permitting that I will get a full day in tomorrow. Seems like Fall is comming on fast, I'm just not ready to call summer quits yet.

Holly---I must be getting all disoriented....Too much on my mind.....

I just posted the whole Pesto process (plus pictures and the recipe) on the Fall projects Thread....

I am having terrible problems with my computer.....Getting a new one any day now. Too many virus warnings,,,constant disconnections.....and all that....Many posts I write are interupted---and then sent anyway. That's what happened--i think.....

Please check the Spring/Summer/Fall projects Forum to follow up with this project of mine....

Gita

I deadhead if the plant is looking ratty.

I saw that Gita, Thanks alot for all the info it looks like you put in a big day today. I'm so tired that I won't get to really read it all and take notes until tomorrow. I really appreciate your writing it all out for me. Holly

Oh no, another confession. Didn't get to deadheading again today!! Spent a few hours planting and weeding and took some photos. By then I had to start my real work. I think that I could spend an entire two week full time just weeding, deadheading and staking. Gosh, I found another 6 plant supports out in the beds today. There are still lilies to be cut down!

Does anyone lift their Glads? I have a lot of Glad foliage to cut, but the foliage is still really green. Should I wait until it withers? I'd like the bulbs to be properly nourished as I plan to pull them and offer them to some Glad lover. Can someone give me a good recommendation on when to cut and lift these?

Glads, I always cut off about a third after they finish flowering and just kinda shape them to a point.
I don't cut anymore until all the foliage has died back.

Thanks, Pajonica. I'll follow your example! I saw some of your photos in the Hydrangea forum. Your garden is looking great!!

stormyla Hi, glad you liked the garden thanks, I've done a lot more work this year and will be posting some new photo's soon! I will put them on the garden design forum as they're not hydrangea related.

Jon

Oh I need to make a list Stormy, you just reminded me that I need to dig up the lilies I planted this year and put them in deeper before winter.
Lady G, Maybe you should have called this thread "Garden Grooming" as the topic of dead heading just leads us down the path to all those other neglected garden chores.

Holly,

Is one supposed to dig up Lilies???????
I have my year-old Orienpet Lilies, and they went through last (cold) winter and bloomed spectacularly this Spring. I plant Lilies about 4" deep.....from the top of the bulb--not the bottom.

G.

No Gita you don't usually dig them up. I didn't plant mine right so now I have to do it again. I got lilies from a DG Co-op this spring and started them in pots since we didn't have the beds ready. Then later when I did plant them I only planted them a few inches deep as I planted them to the level of the pot. Afterwards I realized that they should have gone in much deeper. So I figured I would digg them in the fall and put them down another 5 inches or so. I think someone said about 8 inches deep for lilies. Does that sound right?

I saw this thread on deadheading and thought I'd take a peek. Please forgive my horning-in from the midwest, but there is no need to replant your lilies. They have contractile roots at the bottom of the bulb, and will pull themselves to the depth where they're happy.

Wow Moby, Thank you for that great info. I'm pretty new to lilies only had daylilies in the past and these are my first. That is one chore I can cross out.
We love to have visitors stop by and contribute to our wandering discussions. I like to visit other Regional Forums, too. So interesting to see what and how they grow plants in other areas. What is your opinion on deadheading, how do you handle the issue?

Thanks, Moby! All are welcome here. I'm glad to hear your news as I had some that I though were too shallow and was thinking of replanting them too.

I keep the annuals deadheaded to keep them blooming ~ that's why we plant them, right?! Toward the end of the season, some go to seed. I try to stay on top of the daturas daily ~ hate getting impaled by those nasty sharp pods.

As for most other things, they're taken care of probably twice a week. Old iris blooms turn into messy gobs and daylily blooms can get stuck and inhibit the newer buds opening. I don't bother with dh'ing lilies as they just fall off and the top part of the stem will removed when they're done. I'll deadhead the coneflowers until midsummer to keep them looking nice, but leave the rest for the birds. Any that I've cut off are given to bird-feeding friends.

Y'all come by the Lily Forum and share your beauties, OK? It's fun to watch the show start in April from Texas and proceed north through the states and Canada until Fall.

They are just beautiful. I'm in taking a quick break from my weeding. You are right I make an effort to dead head the larger blooming plants I hate seeing those globs sticking to the new growth. I deadhead my cannas, too. Also I have always deadheaded my butterfly bushes, at least those that I can reach. This year I didn't and the display was terrible, next year it will be back on the top of my priority list of chores.

Moby--

Please do stay! We need all the varied advice we can get--and you will find this bunch the most friendly people.

Are your Tall Lilies Chinese Regale Lilies? I ordered some last fall from John Scheepers--but they did not do too well.
The Orienpet "Honeymoon" Lilies I got from them just blew me away! SO big and Stong!!!

I grow Daturas too and have a lot of seeds from the double/Tripple purple-White D. Metel ans well as the double yellow. I also have Brugmansias and Epis, and a Ric-Rac cactus, and....and...all kinds of stuff. I have Pregnant Onion, Northern Sea Oats, 4 O'Clocks, Perennial Hibiscus, etc...etc..etc....

Please show us more of your garden! Gita

Moby,

Moby, your lilies are great. I like how you've mixed all types of lilies with the Daylilies and Coneflowers. What I love about lilies is that they are great shade plants. I mostly garden in the shade and the lilies rarely let me down. The colors might be better in the sun, but they surely brighten up my shady beds. They also do well under my Maples.

FINALLY, I spent 2 hours deadheading today. Seriously cleaned up my front shrub beds. On one Galliardia, I clipped 87 dead blooms and there are tons more open or about to open buds still on it. Deadheaded all of the Salvias and Dianthus there too.

Cut the Monarda and variegated Cosmos in my driveway bed. Cut most of the Hosta stalks down. Cut half of some Oriental lily foliage back. I had already filled 5, 55 gallon trash bags with half of the lily stalks. Deadheaded tons of Echies. I scattered the spent blooms throughout the beds for the birds. Lots of them had already been picked clean. My beds have been full of birds this year with all of the Echies. Deadheaded some Buddleias.

Found 2 More plant supports out there. I need to get some more of the tall ones. Think I'll run over to Lowes and see if they have any on sale. this weekend. Between the new Iris & Lilies that I planted this year, I am seriously understaked! Maybe tomorrow, I'll get to cut some of the Helianthus & Heliopsis and Helennium. Will tackle the Glads over the weekend. The weeds are unbelievable. Pulled lots today.

Have to work on training the vines better too. The Beneficial Nematodes arrived today, so hopefully, I'll get them all applied this weekend. There are many more plants with slug damage out there. Guess I'll be Ammonia drenching the Ligularia and Brunnera too. What a sad sight!!

Thank you for all the nice comments. And yes, you all do seem to be very nice. :)

The lily in the previous pic is a trumpet named Ortega. It and Pink Perfection were 6' tall this year. For all the cool weather we've had this year, it sure helped the blooms last a long time.

Nothing at all against John Scheepers, but the best lilies come from the folks that grow and hybridize themselves. The Lily Nook in Canada and The Lily Garden (US) are favorites.

Anyone that is even a little bit interested in lilies should come over to visit. And jump in anytime! We're all happy to share the passion and patient with lily-newbies ~ everyone has to start somewhere. (I thought that something as beautiful and fragrant as an oriental lily surely must be tropical!) And you won't find any 'enablers' there. Nope. Not a one... ;) http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/lilies/all/

What a lovely delph.
I'll check out the Lily Garden never ordered from them. I like growing lilies first for the fragrance and then the color. I get lots of folks walking by asking were is that smell coming from.

Stormy, what a busy gal you are!

I'll second that! Made my hands hurt just to think of all that clipping.

I too am crazy for fragrance. Orientals are my first love. My whole garden started 14 years ago with 2 Stargazers, 2 irises and 2 Royal Standard hostas. The white hosta blooms are heavenly.

Oh! And ditch lilies. Doesn't everyone have ditch lilies at first? LOL

Helianthus & Heliopsis and Helennium.

Which ones of these are the ones Jill called "Not Chocolate daisy"?????

I have a clump that was blooming most of the Summer. Want to know the real name.....

THESE! Which name goes with these?

Thanks, G.

Gita, that is Heliopsis. The blooms on both can sometimes be very similar depending on the cultivar. It's easiest to tell them apart by the foliages. Most Heliopsis have foliage similar to yours. I'm very jealous of the variegated one that Hart has. They come in all heights from 3 to 6,7,8'. They usually bloom all summer into the fall.

Helianthus is perennial Sunflower. Most of them have narrow lance shaped leaves, sometimes dull and rough and maybe hairy. A few only have basal leaves and bare stems with blooms occuring along the stems facing different directions. They also come in sizes from 3' to 8'. The popular one is Maximillian which get 8' tall & blooms in the fall. Generally most of these bloom later in the summer to fall than Heliopsis.

Heliopsis are clump forming and will reseed , but are not aggressive. IMHO, they are much nicer attractive plants.

Helianthus spread by rhizome and seed and can be quite aggressive. Their foliages often get really ratty looking like annual sunflowers.



This message was edited Sep 12, 2009 7:23 AM

Hey, Holly--

It seems to like my "YUK" bed. let it spread! Of course--It has "neighboring plants....like Shasta daisy, Autumn Sunset Sedum, and a few others......

Thanks for the ID. I kind of thought it was a Heliopsis. The name just rang a bell.....

Hey--re the Pesto recipe--take it easy on the salt. Mine ended up being a bit too salty.
Instead of 1/2tsp--how about a nice pinch. That should do.

Just for fun--have you ever grown an Avocado from the seed inside?
I now have 2. have NO idea what to do with them....They are also getting ratty looking....

G.