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Home How-To How-to deadhead, cut back, and pinch flowers

PLEASE NOTE: In the autumn of 1995, we hatched the idea for a free, local gardening publication. The following spring, we published the first issue of Michigan Gardener magazine. Advertisers, readers, and distribution sites embraced our vision. Thus began an exciting journey of helping our local gardening community grow and prosper.
After 27 years, nearly 200 issues published, and millions of copies printed, we have decided it is time to end the publication of our Print Magazine and E-Newsletter.

How-to deadhead, cut back, and pinch flowers

June 27, 2023   •   Leave a Comment

These maintenance techniques will keep your flowers neat and profuse

by Steven Nikkila

To deadhead is to remove spent flowers. To cut back is to remove spent flowering stalks and foliage after a plant’s effective bloom season has finished (see photos 1 and 2).

Sea pinks (Armeria maritima) before deadheading.
Photo 1: Sea pinks (Armeria maritima) before deadheading.
Sea pinks after deadheading.
Photo 2: Sea pinks after deadheading.

Deadhead and/or cut back to keep the garden neater and more colorful. It prevents seed formation, which in turn may prolong a plant’s flower production cycle. It reduces the amount of ripening, brown seed pods and stems, making the scene more green and lush. Finally, it limits the number of seeds that fall in the garden. Fewer seeds means fewer problems with prolific seed producers that can become weeds through self-sowing (see photo 3).

This variegated heartleaf forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla 'Variegata') has far more seed pods than flowers at this point in its flowering cycle. Now is a good time to cut back this flowering stem.
Photo 3: This variegated heartleaf forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Variegata’) has far more seed pods than flowers at this point in its flowering cycle. Now is a good time to cut back this flowering stem.

The simplest deadheading is to remove each flower as the petals fade, leaving developing flower buds behind. Flowers and buds may be in clusters, with buds tight against the faded flowers. To remove each flower in a cluster as it finishes may be more detail work than you care to do. In that case, remove each cluster when the number of spent flowers exceeds the number of buds remaining in the group or on the stem (see photos 4 and 5).

Pointing out spent flowers on Jacob's ladder (Polemonium caeruleum).
Photo 4: Pointing out spent flowers on Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium caeruleum).
Jacob's ladder flower buds that remain after deadheading the spent blossoms.
Photo 5: Jacob’s ladder flower buds that remain after deadheading the spent blossoms.

To cut back, note where new sprouts tend to develop on the type of plant you are dealing with. Remove the entire flowering stem, cutting just above a husky stem or node. The thicker the remaining stem, the thicker any new flowering shoot will be. Sometimes new foliage and sprouts are produced only at the very base of the plant, so cutting back will severely reduce the plant’s overall height. This is fine if more foliage is left at the base than is removed in cutting back (see photos 6 and 7).

Where to cut back old flowering stalks on meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegiifolium).
Photo 6: Where to cut back old flowering stalks on meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegiifolium).
Meadow rue flowering stalk with buds left for later bloom.
Photo 7: Meadow rue flowering stalk with buds left for later bloom.

Pinching is a pre-bloom season technique to stall off flowering and make a plant bushier. It is often done to fall-blooming mums, but many other late summer and fall-blooming perennials can be pinched as well, including asters (Aster novae-angliae, Aster novi-belgii and others), hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos), balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus), turtlehead (Chelone obliqua), and sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale). To pinch, cut off stem tips, removing up to 1/3 of the plant’s foliage (see photos 8 and 9). New branches will sprout from nodes lower on the stem, making several new tips where there was one before pinching. A pinched stem will tend to set a larger number of flowers than a stem left alone, though individual flowers will be smaller (see photo 10).

New England aster (Aster novae-angliae), roughly gauging it in thirds.
New England aster (Aster novae-angliae), roughly gauging it in thirds.
New England aster after pinching the top third off.
Photo 9: New England aster after pinching the top third off.

Plants can be pinched several times during the growing season. It is said that mums should be pinched “3 times by the 4th” (of July). New stems (with new flower buds) tend to take 3 to 6 weeks to appear after the pinch, and flowers open after 2 to 4 more weeks of development, so it’s best to make your last pinches no later than early August.

This aster tip has had its leaves removed, to let you see the side shoots that will develop into new flowering shoots.
Photo 10: This aster tip has had its leaves removed, to let you see the side shoots that will develop into new flowering shoots.

Article and photos by Steven Nikkila, www.gardenatoz.com.

Related: Growing low-maintenance vegetables

Elsewhere: Summer flower care keeps your plants blooming strong

Filed Under: How-To Tagged With: cut back, deadhead, flowers, maintenance, pinch

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