Debi Holland shows you how to keep your garden blooming all autumn by deadheading. Learn how removing spent flowers redirects energy back into the plant, encouraging more blooms and extending your flowering season.
Keep your garden blooming for longer
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Want to keep your garden blooming for longer? Deadheading is simply removing spent flowers. With plants such as dahlias, cosmos, roses and pelargoniums, regular deadheading encourages more flowers by keeping the plants from putting their energy into making seeds.
Know which dahlia heads to cut. Rounded buds are new flowers that haven’t opened yet. The pointed heads are spent flowers. Follow the stem of the spent flower back to a healthy set of leaves and snip it off just above that leaf joint.
Water and feed. Flowering takes energy. Give the plants a good drink and a feed suitable for flowering plants. I use Richard Jackson’s Flower Power.
Mulch after watering. Spread homemade compost, wood chippings or leaf mould around the base to help hold moisture in the soil. Keep up with deadheading to enjoy colour into autumn, often until the first frosts.
