Deadheading Flowers

Let's be honest. Not all gardening chores are equal. For instance, while I know weeds are ugly and sap nutrients from "good" plants, I have a hard time keeping up with pulling weeds. It seems no matter how diligent I am, there's always a new crop of invaders ready to take the place of those that were eliminated.

And so we come to deadheading. Deadheading may be an ominous-sounding term for a garden chore. And no, it has nothing to do with the Grateful Dead. All it involves is a benevolent form of pruning where spent flowers are removed from a plant.

To me, deadheading ranks right up there with thinning. Thinning involves picking off the tiny green, immature fruits of apples, pears and other fruit trees. It's tough to do because you know that those tiny fruits might some day grow into large ones. And yet, thinning is a necessity because there's not enough space for all those tiny fruits to eventually mature into ripe ones.

I have the same feelings about deadheading. After all, it's tough to methodically go through the garden, snipping away flowers that many times are still beautiful. Of sure, often you're cutting old, spent flowers, but sometimes you might be snipping still-good flowers that may or may not have peaked. On a more tangible level, deadheading immediately improves the garden's appearance by eliminating spent flowers.

Of course, being the lazy sort of gardener I am, I often get a little over-ambitious when it comes to deadheading. This results in cutting still-good flowers that might look a little worn by the next day or so. I know I often pause in mid snip, debating whether to snip a flower or let it be. Oh, the power one has in the garden!

However, by deadheading early, I don't have to go out to the garden every day. I have a good excuse, though. I always tell myself that I'm actually doing the plant a favor by deadheading. And it really is true.

If left to their own devices, many flowers will bloom heavily for a short period of time, then set seed, thinking they're done for the season. Deadheading interrupts this cycle. You're actually foolng the plant, forcing them to send out another flush of blooms to try to complete the reproductive cycle. The blooms in the second or third display may not be as large or as numerous as the first, but they are certainly worth the effort.

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