Off with their heads

I relish taking the part of the Red Queen (or was it the Queen of Hearts?) and commanding, "Off with their heads!" I truly enjoy deadheading plants. In a recent article in Garden Design magazine, the director of some public arboretum that did a lot of plant trials revealed that his staff never deadheaded (removed the old flowers); he said they found it made no impact on re-flowering. That may be true, although I don't feel that way, and I think it makes the plants look so much neater.

Here are before and after pictures of Majestic Beauty Indian hawthorn. It looked fabulous blooming its big pink flower clusters but once the blooms faded to beige it was shabby looking. I just couldn't stand the sight of it anymore and cut all the old flowers off. I think it looks much better now.

I also deadheaded most of the potted roses which had just finished their first bloom cycle, and the Spanish lavender, silver leaf sage, and anything else I noticed had ragged looking blooms. I feel so much better now.

Martha Gonzales rose before their heads were cut off

Martha Gonzales rose after