How to Deadhead Flowers for More Blooms and Healthier Plants (Photos)
Have you ever planted flowers only to have them quickly stop growing and fade away? Come learn how to deadhead flowers to extend the blooming season and grow larger, healthier plants!
This guide will explore the benefits of deadheading, the best types of flowers to deadhead, and exactly when and how to do so. These tips apply to annual flowers like zinnia, cosmos and dahlias as well as perennials like roses and peonies.
This simple garden task is easy to do and the reward is huge! Plus, many gardeners find deadheading to be relaxing or therapeutic – myself included. I love to put on some light music, tune into the garden, and try to clear my mind. Enjoy!
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RELATED: Don’t miss our favorite 7 easy annual companion flowers to grow, the 18 best fall flowers for a colorful fall garden, or this fun beginner’s guide on pressing flowers!
What is Deadheading?
Deadheading is the simple act of removing old, spent flowers from a plant. Pruning away the “dead heads” frees up nutrients that allows the plants to grow and bloom even more!
On the other hand, when you don’t deadhead, plant growth typically slows down as it focuses all it’s energy on producing seed instead. (Though there are some benefits of allowing flowers to go to seed later in the season, such as for seed-saving or as a valuable food source for birds or other wildlife.)
For the best results, you should remove a portion of stem along with the adjacent fading flower. See more detailed directions and photos in the “how to deadhead” section to follow.
Benefits of Deadheading
- Promotes more new blooms. Don’t worry – the more you pick, the more will grow! That means more flowers for you to enjoy, as well as the bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
- Leads to larger plants. When fading flowers and stems are removed, most plants respond by growing fresh side shoots and an overall fuller, bushy structure. (That’s the same reason we top or pinch most flower seedlings when they’re still small.)
- Extends the blooming season. Routinely deadheading will keep your plants alive, healthy, and blooming far longer than if you let them all go to seed after the first flush of flowers – often into fall for some varieties. For example, we harvest calendula flowers weekly from the same set of plants for nearly a year before they slow down!
- Healthier plants. Deadheading can improve air circulation around the plant, reducing the risk of fungal diseases that can develop on spent flowers or foliage.
- Reduces seed spread. As much as a I love having a few volunteer flowers pop up in our garden, it would be an absolute mess if we let every single flower head drop all of its seed! Especially flowers that rapidly self-seed like poppies, bachelor’s buttons, marigolds, calendula, and cosmos. However, we do like to leave some seed heads for the wild birds to enjoy, and to save flower seeds to replant next year. We also like to leave the late summer roses so we can harvest rose hips come winter!
- Improved appearance. Rather than looking at crusty old brown flowers and seed heads, I love how fresh, healthy, and tidy our garden looks after a good deadheading session!
The Best Flowers to Deadhead
The following flowers benefit from regular deadheading:
- Bee Balm
- Calendula
- Coneflower
- Cosmos
- Dahlias
- Daisies
- Delphinium
- Geraniums
- Hydrangea
- Larkspur
- Lavender
- Marigold
- Mums
- Peonies
- Petunias
- Roses
- Rudbeckia
- Snapdragons
- Strawflower
- Yarrow
- Zinnia
How to Deadhead Flowers
- It’s usually best to deadhead flowers using small garden shears or pruning snips, though you may be able to carefully pinch off flower heads or stems by hand as well.
- Starting at the old flower head that you want to remove, work down the stem until you locate the next healthy set of leaves, side branches, or leaf nodes (where future side shoots will grow from).
- Trim off the faded blooms about 1/4 inch above the next set of leaves or side shoots down the stem. Depending on the type and age of the flowers, you may end up trimming only a couple inches of stem, or other times much deeper into the plant.
- To promote lower branches and prevent the plant from getting too top-heaving, I often cut stems at varying heights – some just below the flower head and others a few leaf nodes down the stem.
- Sanitize pruning snips with rubbing alcohol between plants to prevent the spread of disease.
- You can also simply pluck off old flower heads, though that leaves plants looking a bit funky – with a bunch of headless stems left sticking up.
- Since I don’t want our compost full of volunteer flowers, I usually just toss the clippings into our municipal green waste bin.
When (How Often) to Deadhead
It’s best to start deadheading when plants are still young, quickly removing the first fading flowers to encourage more growth.
Then, follow the same process to routinely deadhead as needed to remove old flowers throughout the growing season. The frequency depends on the type of flower, and how quickly they fade and regrow.
We grow a wide variety of flowers in our large garden, so I typically try to deadhead once a week (or at least 2 to 3 times times per month) spring through fall. Doing a little at a time make the chore more quick and manageable than waiting too long!
Some serious gardeners may deadhead even more often. For instance, garden expert Monty Don suggests deadheading roses daily during peak bloom in midsummer, and weekly as the bare minimum.
The benefits of deadheading extends beyond pruning old, dying blooms. Routinely cutting newer flowers to enjoy in a bouquet or vase also encourages healthier plant growth – so don’t feel like you have to wait until they’re on their way out!
So simple!
Well friends, I hope you learned something new today and now feel motivated to get out there and deadhead some flowers! It always amazes me how this one simple task can have such a profound impact on your garden’s health and appearance. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below, and leave a review if you found this article to be helpful!
You may also enjoy:
- Seed-Saving 101: How to Save Seeds from Annual Flowers
- Bird-Friendly Gardens: How to Attract Birds to Your Yard
- Harvesting Fresh Lavender: How to Harvest, Prune & Dry Lavender Flowers
- How to Turn Your Yard or Garden into a Certified Wildlife Habitat
- 15 Best Flowers to Attract Hummingbirds (with photos)
How to Deadhead Flowers for More Blooms and Healthier Plants
Equipment
- small garden pruners or snips
- rubbing alcohol or other sanitizer
Instructions
- Start deadheading flowers when plants are still young, and continue to remove spent flowers routinely (e.g. weekly) as needed throughout the growing season.
- It’s best to deadhead flowers using small garden pruners or snips, though you may be able to carefully pinch off flower heads or stems by hand.
- Starting at the spent flower head that you want to remove, work down the stem to until you locate the next healthy set of leaves, side branches, or leaf nodes (where future side shoots will grow from).
- Trim off the faded blooms about 1/4 inch above the next set of leaves or side shoots down the stem.
- To promote lower branches and prevent the plant from getting too top-heaving, I often cut stems at varying heights – some just below the flower head and others a few leaf nodes down the stem.
- Sanitize pruning snips with rubbing alcohol between plants to prevent the spread of disease.
Notes
Deanna Talerico
Deanna Talerico (aka DeannaCat) is a garden educator and writer with over 15 years experience in organic gardening. She is a retired Senior Environmental Health Specialist, and holds a M.A. in Environmental Studies and B.S. in Sustainability and Natural Resources.
20 Comments
Duncan MacGregor
I don’t see sunflowers on your “deadhead these flowers” list. I’ve read conflicting info about deadheading sunflowers on-line. Some is yes, deadhead away like any other flower. The other is to never deadhead sunflowers as it will damage the plant. This is for multi-flower varieties of course. What say you?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Duncan, we don’t deadhead sunflowers, even on our multi headed plants as they seem to bloom profusely on their own. We like to leave the flowers to form mature seeds for the wild birds or give them to our chickens as they are a favorite treat of theirs. Hope that helps and have fun growing!
Carmelita Turrietta
Very helpful especially with the photos.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
So great to hear Carmelita, have fun growing!
Chris
Hey there, how come you don’t throw these into the compost, can you explain what you meant by “volunteer flowers”?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Chris, “volunteer flowers” simply means any flower that sprouted on their own in our yard or garden space due to the seeds being dropped by plants from the previous year or season. We don’t typically add the flowers to our compost but you absolutely can, anything that is diseased should be avoided and if your compost doesn’t get hot enough to sterilize any seeds that may be leftover, they can sprout if and when you use your compost in the garden. Hope that helps and have fun growing!
Sarah
Love your guides, as always! Where do you deadhead marigold? To the first node under the bloom head? Also – what’s that pretty giant pompom zinnia(?) in the middle of the bouquet in the blue ball jar? Thanks 😊
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Sarah, depending on how bushy the marigold plants are, we would typically just cut off the flower head along with an inch or so of the stem below. As far as the variety of zinnia, it is called zinderella and we have a pack of zinderella pastel as well as zinderella peach so it’s from one of the two. Thanks for checking in and have fun growing!
Linda Benedict
Great article. Gorgeous garden. I’ve been leaving rudbeckia for the birds because the finches love it. Perhaps I’ll deadhead & tie in a bundle and hang somewhere in the garden for them to find. Thank you for always inspiring me!!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Linda, that’s a great idea and would be a lot of fun to watch, have fun growing!
hannah enriquez
Literally EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thanks for making me feel like I know what I’m doing
Deanna Talerico
Oh good, that makes us so happy to hear! I’m glad it’s helpful for you, and thanks for the comment!
Mary Rodriguez-Noble
I always look forward to your sage advice! Thank you once again for your article and your free content. In a world full of influencers and subscriptions, you continue to educate us without cost. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It doesn’t go unnoticed.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Thank you so much for the kind words Mary, we are truly grateful for your support!
Sarah Sullivan
Great article! Thank you for all the great info on dead heading!
Deanna Talerico
My pleasure Sarah! Thank you for reading!
Elizabeth Archer
The article and photos are very helpful–thank you! I also love deadheading and am surprised by what a difference it makes!
Deanna Talerico
Agreed! Sometimes it feels like “just one more thing” on the never-ending to do list, but it’s so worth it. Thank you so much for reading and for the feedback!
Tor
This is the simple guide I was hoping Deanna would write! Easy to understand and so helpful with the photos. Thank you for this article!
Deanna Talerico
Awesome, I’m so glad you found it helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to say so! 🙂