You can dead head milkweed so it reblooms? Can you do this with all varieties? Particularly Butterfly weed (A. tuberosa)?

Oh boy...I deadhead on a daily basis. In fact, today, I was busy deadheading the Roses out front and pulling up the spent Alstromeria when I decided to trim back the A. curassavica (it was really getting out of control).

Kek, the answer is YES. Deadheading, to me, is the preferred way to go (have you ever read my blog with regards to seed pods?). Cutting milkweed back is fine, too.

Tuberosa will definitely rebloom if you deadhead it. I always dead head mine unless I'm wanting seed. My tuberosa blooms all summer.

so do you take off the individual little flowers, or the whole cluster?

kek19, I do the whole cluster--it would take too long otherwise. : )

I am wondering if I can deadhead my purple coneflowers now.
We are in zone 6 in the Ohio River Valley. I could do all or only part of them, but I'm not sure it is possible at this time.

Oh my, scissors? If I had to go out there with the scissors I'd never make it indoors. ;P I just snip off with my fingers. Pinch and twist.

YOW! tdogmom, my skin itches just THINKING about doing that (my skin does NOT play well with milkweed sap). I wish I could skip the gloves and tools! that would be so convenient.

: )

Yes, tdogmom, with my scissors! I always get green thumbnails when I pinch with my fingers. HeHe Green thumbs are for frogs. You know, "It isn't easy being green."

OKSandy

As long as I remember NOT to touch my face I am fine with touching Milkweed. :) With the sheer quantity of the stuff I have I'd go nuts if I have to constantly get the gloves on...I deadhead to help control the number of potential seed pods as well.

Well, I just learned something new again! I didn't know that you could get more blooms if you deadheaded milkweed! My A. tuberosa already has seed pods on it a few weeks already or maybe a month or so (don't really know exactly). Would it still bloom if I cut the pods off at this point? I don't want to do that unless someone knows for sure. I don't want to end up with no seeds and no flowers either. Of course, I could just do some of them to find out. I'm curious if anyone knows though.
Cathy

Cathy,
Do some of them and find out. I think you can still get blooms.

OKSandy

Sandy, Yeah, I think I will because now I'm curious. I never realized that a person could deadhead milkweed, but it only makes sense, huh!
Cathy

I even cut back my milkweed to make it branch out and make more shoots with leaves. I deadhead the blooms too until the end of the summer so that I can have more seeds.

When I cut back, I take the cuttings and put them in water. After a couple of weeks, some of the cuttings will have roots and off I go to plant another milkweed plant. Multiply, multiply, multiply. I can never have enough milkweed.

I slip alot of milkweed in perlite and sand. faster than seeds. I have to get out and finish the deadheading job. I do it all over the yard.

Penny

What was the verdict of the people who deadheaded their milkweed plants? I am tempted to just remove the seedpods which the yellow aphids seem to prefer and leave the flowers for the Monarchs and bees.