Nebraska Extension
Plants are really looking great this year, the much needed rain has really helped them flourish. When my flowers bloom, my gardens look amazing. It is always a little disappointing when those plants finish flowering, and they are stuck in the foliage stage for the rest of the season. However, deadheading those plants can help encourage more blooming and new growth for a more colorful garden through the summer.
Deadheading
Deadheading is the process of removing spent blossoms to encourage new blooms. Flowers are produced on a plant so they can be pollinated and produce seed. Seed production is the purpose of plants to ensure survival. Once the flowers have been pollinated for the year, the plant will move on to seed production and use less energy on flower production. This will Leave the plant without many blooms for the rest of the season.
To keep the plant flowering through the summer, you can remove the flowers before the seeds are mature. This will push the plant to flower again to try to produce seeds. Deadheading can be done with hand pruners or just pinch them off with your fingers but be careful not to tear the plant down the stem when you do. Snapdragons, a favorite plant among many gardeners, need to be deadheaded or even pinched back after the first growth of flowers to encourage new growth and more flowering. Others that respond well to deadheading include roses, zinnias, blanket flower, and many more.
Most annuals will continue to bloom through the season even without deadheading, but they will look better overall if the dried-up blossoms are removed. Some plants are self-cleaning, meaning they will naturally lose their spent blossoms and will continually flower through the summer. Also, some of our plants will only produce a certain number of flowers and dead heading will only clean up spent flowers, it will not encourage new blooming. This is the case with many of our perennial plants. It still makes the plants look better overall, to remove faded blossoms, but may not encourage new blooming.
Pinching Back
Some plants should be cut back to control the size and to help with flowering. Mums need to be pinched back to control flowering and size. Mums typically bloom in the fall, but if left alone all year, they can bloom early. Mums should be pinched 2 times in the month of June and should not be pinched again after the Fourth of July. For this pinching back, when the plant reaches about 6 inches tall, cut off one inch of the growth. Then, when the new growth is another 4 inches tall, cut 2 inches off. If growth is rapid, you might be able to get one more pinching of 1-2 inches off the plant as long as it is done before July.
Other plants can benefit from pinching back. Some of our plants such as May Night Salvia can get leggy through the growing season and fall over. If you let it bloom once and then deadhead as well as cut it back a couple of inches, it will help keep the plant more upright and keep it from falling over.
Vegetable Gardens
You may have noticed a lack of growth in your vegetable gardens this year, this is due to the cooler temperatures we have been dealing with. The cold weather hasn’t been too cold to where it is harming the plants, but it may have stunted their growth. Summer crops are not meant to grow in nighttime temperatures in the 40s like we have been seeing lately. While it isn’t freezing temperatures, it isn’t conducive to growth for our favorite summer vegetable crops. In your garden, plants should still be alive, but haven’t grown much since being planted a few weeks ago. They will return to normal growth rates once the temperatures return to normal.
If you have any further questions please contact Nicole Stoner at (402) 223-1384, nstoner2@unl.edu, visit the Gage County Extension website at www.gage.unl.edu, or like my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/NicoleStonerHorticulture
