Released July 7, 2010
BATON ROUGE, La. – Deadheading is an important but often-neglected gardening technique. It refers to pruning old, faded flowers from a plant as it blooms. It is most often done to annuals and perennials, but it is also useful with some summer-flowering trees and shrubs.
A number of advantages to deadheading make it worth the time and effort it involves. For one thing, it improves the appearance of a plant tremendously. Plants that bloom over a long period of time often end up with an accumulation of unattractive dead flowers and seed pods mixed in with the newly opened blooms. This makes the plant look bad even when it has pretty flowers. If you keep the faded flowers off, the plant always looks fresh – as if it were just coming into bloom.
--continued on LSU AgCenter news
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