Hi all, I just planted several Geranium 'Rosanne' and have a couple questions about deadheading.
1. Do i need to deadhead them?
2. If yes, do i just pinch them off right behind the flower or do I follow the stem back all the way to its base?
I am going to attach two pictures to better describe what I am asking. So do i do it like this.....
Or like this?
Hey, I am not an expert gardener but I have a verigated variety that I deadhead almost daily. I take the stem all the way back like your second example. I have found that
they are also easy to root and you should not keep them too wet. They need to dry some between waterings. Maybe some one with more experience will answer you but this is my personal experience with them. shirleyt
I never deadhead this one at all. It just keeps blooming and spreading all summer long here in the NW. Maybe in your area it is different.
Carol
I deadhead mine like your second photo. In fact that's how I deadhead most flowers that have single blooms at the top of a stem. Otherwise, you end up with a lot of stems without leaves and that looks strange. My Johnson's Blue does not seem to bloom very long for me here. I thinks it's the hot summers that get to it.
susan
In terms of any impact it'll have on the plant's subsequent growth/reblooming, it doesn't matter where you snip off the flower. Like Susan, for plants like this if I deadhead I tend to cut the stalk back further, but it's strictly an aesthetic thing. I don't grow this plant though so I don't know if deadheading is needed at all or not.
Thanks for the help. I am new at this but I am becoming obsessed :-)
ecrane or anyone, if I might ask another question about deadheading, I'm growing 'Huskers Red' beard tongue and now its about to finish off its first flush of bloom.....do you cut down to the next bud or lateral leaf below the spent flower or do you cut the stalk down to the crown?...I mean what kind of second flush if any does 'Huskers Red' have?.....thanks folks for anything you could tell me.....here is a photo of my 'Huskers Red" one smaller one on the left and a larger one on the right....
Paul from Alabama
I'm pretty lazy about deadheading my penstemons, and I don't grow 'Husker Red', but if I were going to deadhead mine I would cut off just below where the flowers were. No idea if that's the right way or if penstemons have special requirements though. And I have no idea if it'll rebloom or not but unless you were trying to get seeds from it, it doesn't hurt to try.
I have several plants of the 'Husker Red'. I just cut off the spent heads down to the crown. They aren't going to put out new shoots on that stalk so.................
Carol
ecrane & Carol, thanks....The lady at our local nursery asked me last year if I grew 'Husker's Red' and I said no, and she shook her head in disbelief...I think she's kinda partial to'em.....Well I end up buying this and that and when I put the stuff in back of my Jeep she's already but two Huskers Red in the Jeep.....That's what she calls 'pass along' plants...So this year I'm learning about'em myself....they had a nice purple tinged whitish flower and the foliage ain't bad.....but again thanks for your help and I'm going to take one down the crown like Carol said and deadhead one just for experiment sake like ecrane suggested and that will take care of it.....Just curious, what other kinds of penstemons do you grow or really like for yourselves?.....I've seen some wonderful ones it looks like in High Country Gardens Nursery in Colorado, I got their catalog and saw their website, they seem to specialize in them and salvias too......saw some dandies.....I got something called 'Scarlet Spires' salvia from them this year and its going like gangbusters here....must be some similarity between Rocky Mountains and Bama, but what it would be I have no idea......:)
Paul from Alabama
I don't have a ton of penstemons--right now I have 'Midnight', and then I have two cultivars of P. pinifolius ('Compactum' and 'Mersea Yellow') which I got from High Country Gardens.
If you're thinking of things from High Country Gardens they do have a great selection of wonderful plants, but make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page for each plant and look at how much annual rainfall the plant can handle and what climate(s) it's good for, they have this info listed for most of their plants. This is especially important if you have soil that doesn't drain perfectly. Many of the things they sell are xeric western plants and the amount of annual rainfall in the eastern part of the country can be a bit much for them. When you have too much moisture for them, some plants may never do well at all, and others may do fine in the short term but end up being shorter lived than they would be in a drier climate. They do sell some things that can do well in wetter climates, and if you look at the section at the bottom of the page it'll either have higher amts of rainfall listed as being OK, or it'll say it does well in your part of the country. I wouldn't necessarily avoid trying something you really want to try just because it says it's for the desert west, but just be prepared that it may not be long-lived in a wetter garden. But plants will surprise you sometimes and do well in places where you wouldn't think they would.
ecrane thanks for the heads up on the amount of annual rainfall, I remember now seeing that on one page about growing some of their best sellers in the east.....and a rainfall chart if I remember......and ecrane I like it when plants surprise, surprise me in a good way anyways......:)
again thanks for the info
Paul from Alabama
But Paul, I do love HCG! Last year I bought a gorgeous salvia that didn't like it where I planted it - but it was so lovely, I'd grow it as an annual. Also, they are about to stop shipping for the summer, I believe.
Carrie
Well all I can say is, if somebody, and won't mention who, can grow them in MA, I sure can down here in the broiler...:)
Paul from Alabama
I really like penstemons! They are very easy to care for and bloom all summer long I find. I just cut them back either in the fall or in late winter, then they come back with many new shoots ready to go.
They are very easy to propagate from too. I have like 5-6 different ones I think.
As for salvias, I really like them too but some haven't come back here in the NW for some reason. Maybe they can't take the cold or wet? But then I have others that are seem very hardy and come back regularly each year. I am finally getting some to drop seeds and get new plants too.
Carol
Some salvias don't like a lot of moisture, most of the common ones should do OK with zone 8 temperatures but your rainfall might be too much for them.
What was funny, we had a milder winter as far as rain goes. We were much colder than normal tho so.......................
I just had a couple blue ones that I really like but..............nothing came up from their spots and they were in good soil so.............
