Keeping Your Plants Looking Great

It’s the time of year when many plants are finishing blooming, so their dead flower heads are detracting from their beauty and vigor. Whether you have annuals, perennials or shrubs that have spent flowers, it’s important to take the time to snip the heads off.

“Deadheading” flowers not only help the plant look better, but encourages growth and vigor. Annuals and shrubs such as roses and spirea will continue to bloom or will rebloom if blossoms are removed as soon as they are finished.

You can also do some cleaning up of shrubs and evergreens to reshape and tidy up their growth. If any of your shrubs, evergreens or trees are looking overgrown or are growing unevenly, you can be assured that trimming them at this time of year will not harm them... it will promote healthy growth.

Here are some tips:

1. Try to deadhead as soon as the flowers start to fade.

2. Be sure to use sharp pruners to remove the stem of the spent flower, not just the bloom. A general rule of thumb is to prune down to the next healthy set of leaves.

3. If your shrubs are quite large, sharp hedge shears can make the task even easier .