This bed of daisies should be deadheaded, which means to chop off the spent flowers, to prevent their seeds from taking over the rest of my yard.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There aren’t many better places in the world to be in August than in Northeast Ohio. The skies are blue, the water is warm, and many trees, flowers, and vegetables are reaching their glorious summer peak.

At this point, some gardeners pause and delight in the beautiful living canvas they have created in their flower beds. Others sigh, shrug, and pull out their pruning tools for the gardening chore known as deadheading.

For readers who remember where they were when they heard that Jerry Garcia had died, it is not that kind of deadhead. Rather, deadheading is the practice of cutting off the tops, or “heads,” of flowers that have finished blooming.

I’m not a lazy gardener, exactly, but summer is short and outdoor time is precious, so I have a habit of questioning practices like deadheading. Even though my grandmother did it—and she had a beautiful flower garden—she also did things like iron sheets and sift flour. I sleep just fine in a wrinkly bed, and my husband’s bread and cookies made with unsifted flour taste delicious. So I’ve wondered if deadheading was one of those habits from a different time or if there was a purpose to it that was meaningful to me.

It turns out there are a few situations where deadheading is beneficial. The most important is if it is the type of flower that will set seed and spread all over your garden, your yard, your neighbors’ yards, and beyond. I’ve been learning this the hard way with the Shasta daisies and goldenrod in my garden that has been spreading far beyond their original garden beds over the past few years. This year, I am lopping off their heads with garden shears shortly after they bloom to keep them contained in their current locations.

Another good reason to deadhead is to encourage flowers to rebloom. Annuals such as petunias, snapdragons, zinnias, and marigolds are in this category. The purpose of their entire short life is to continue their species next year, so by removing their flower head, they will blossom again in an attempt to produce more precious seeds for survival. Deadheading annuals is a fun chore for a kid in your life, because all you have to do is pinch the tender stem a little below the flower head, or perhaps use a clean pair of kid scissors for the task. Since they are annuals, even if the child goes a little overboard, the damage is as short-lived as the plant.

Finally, some people, perhaps including my grandmother, deadhead because they prefer a neater look when the flowers have finished blooming. If your daylilies and hostas haven’t already been eaten by deer, for example, cutting them back can freshen up their appearance and draw attention to other flowers in bloom in your garden.

Deadheading early-blooming perennials, like peonies and spring bulbs like daffodils and tulips, is said to encourage the plant to put more energy into maintaining its roots or bulbs. That said, I usually forget to deadhead my bulbs and they come back stronger every year, so don’t worry if you overlooked this chore.

In a few short months, dead coneflower heads will be a great food source for birds (and reminder to the kids to stay away from the flower garden when building snow forts).

I also will not be deadheading the native coneflowers and rudbeckia flowers, such as black-eyed Susans, in my garden. While not everyone agrees, I enjoy how they look in the winter when they have dried up, and they are a reminder of summer when the garden is covered with snow. More importantly, though, is the birds rely on their seeds as a source of food in the winter, so leaving the flower heads helps make my garden a year-round habitat for wildlife.

Speaking of wildlife habitat, thank you to everyone who responded to the article about monarchs and milkweed last week! I will be sharing your ideas and photos with readers in a future article to help take the mystery out of starting a native pollinator garden. If you have any gardening comments or questions, you can email me at sbrownstein216@gmail.com.

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022).

© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.