Deadheading: It Keeps the Color Coming

Deadheading: It Keeps the Color Coming

From Focus on Flowers by Indiana Public Media

February 19, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of deadheading in gardening to promote continuous blooming of plants.

At this time of the year we usually read about gardens instead of gardening. I have been reading about deadheading —the way we ensure plants keep blooming by chopping off the spent flowers. This prevents them from forming seeds, which is a signal that no more flowers are needed by the plant. Annuals have to produce a lot of flowers because they only live for one year and so have only one flowering period to procreate. Perennials, on the other hand, have a second way of continuing in life: they can grow back the next year on their own roots so setting seed is not so crucial for them. That means that we don’t have to snip off every spent flower on the perennials, (though it does increase their vigor), the way we should with our annuals to keep them blooming. Most perennials will only bloom for a few weeks anyway. However, the whole garden looks better if plants are deadheaded, so it is a good thing. You can snip each flower off individually, or you can cut back a plant that has finished flowering by snipping half of the plant off with shears. Colorful flowers attract pollinators that fertilize them, so annual flowers are often especially showy as they need to be pollinated in a…

Topics covered

  • deadheading
  • gardening
  • annuals
  • perennials
  • pollinators

Keywords

  • flowers
  • gardens
  • plant care
  • blooming
  • gardening tips

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