Deadheading Plants: How, Why, and When to Do It

Spring isn’t quite here for most of us—at the time of this writing it’s early January 2025 (Happy New Year, by the way!) and most of North America is experiencing chilly if not frigid weather. This may seem to be an odd time to talk about flowers, but gardening season is just around the corner. This is the perfect time to acquire some new knowledge and new skills to help your garden thrive when spring arrives. With that in mind, let’s talk about deadheading. As part of the care and maintenance of flowering plants, deadheading helps promote bloom production, flowering, and a robust, beautiful appearance. But how do you deadhead plants? Is deadheading right for every flowering plant? When should you deadhead? The answers might surprise you, so let’s dig in and learn a bit more about deadheading plants.

The Basics of Deadheading

On the surface deadheading is dead simple: when a flower starts to fade, cut or pinch it cleanly off just below its base thus encouraging the plant to produce more flowers. This works by tricking the plant’s natural processes; flowers exist for reproduction—in this case seed production—and the plant wants to make as many seeds as possible. Fading or dying flowers consume energy from the plant that could support new growth and removing or “deadheading” them helps the plant focus on creating new blossoms with the hopes of making more seeds.

The botanists and flower experts in the audience will note that this is an extremely basic explanation, but this is a gardening blog, not a science article. If you can provide a more scientific and detailed exploration, please do so in the comments as it really does help our community learn!

Which Flowers Need Deadheading?

This is where deadheading gets complicated: some plants respond quite well to deadheading while for others it is extremely detrimental. It also depends on the goals you have for your plant—by removing fading blossoms, we’re removing the plant’s ability to produce seeds from those flowers. If you want your plants to reseed or if you want to collect seeds, deadheading might be best avoided. As a general set of rules:

• Deadheading works best with perennials, not annuals. Annuals need to put everything they have into the one growing season they get, and deadheading isn’t likely to encourage more blossoms. Many perennials, on the other hand, respond beautifully to deadheading and can be coaxed into producing more flowers for a longer period of time.
• Use clean, sharp tools while deadheading. We’ve written before about the importance of maintaining your garden shears, clippers, and other cutting tools and with good reason. Clean sharp tools make the process as easy as possible for both the plant and the gardener while reducing the chance of infection or unintended damage.
• Deadhead in the spring and summer, not the fall. Plants in the fall produce seeds that may be vital food sources for birds in the colder months. Let them be and support local wildlife.
• Don’t deadhead plants that are already stressed, damaged, or diseased. Deadheading is effectively a surgical procedure for your plant—it’s safe if all else is well. If the plant is under duress from something else, skip the deadheading this year.

So with those basics down, let’s talk about which plants respond well to deadheading. Again, as a general rule perennials are the best candidates: bellflower (Campanula spp.), geraniums, Phlox spp., evening primrose and Jupiter’s beard (Centranthus spp.) are all good candidates. Petunias, marigolds, impatiens, zinnias, and Salvia spp can all be deadheaded in early to mid summer and will generally produce another round of beautiful flowers for you. Please note that you don’t have to deadhead all of your plants—you can take the time to remove blossoms selectively for a more natural seasonal look.

Deadheading is another technique for getting more out of your flowering plants or ornamental landscaping. It’s also an interesting way to engage with and learn more about your plants’ life cycle and a great excuse to spend more time gardening.