I hate it. Well at least this year I do. My back has been giving me a hard time this spring (old injury)and deadheading really aggravates it. Also this year the gnats are terrible. Practically eat you a live! I'm not kidding. I was deadheading all my peonies an iris late yesterday and had to quit. Finished this afternoon and it wasn't quite so bad, but bad enough.

I'll deadhead a few each morning as I pick a small bouquet for the house, but I don't enjoy much of anything outdoors this time of year. I'm dreading next week when I have to start pulling tomato plants.

Deadheading is my favorite garden chore for the same reasons you listed. Today I deadheaded peonies and iris and hardy geraniums.

It has rained here so much this spring that I am still planting and transplanting. Tried to turn the compost but still too wet.

Was wishing that all those spring chores were finished so I could just do deadheading.

I love it. I deadhead while I drink my coffee in the am. Sometimes in my pj's. :)

Ne

I love deadheading plants (usually in my pjs!)it never fails to soothe me and make the rest of the world retreat.

Totally depends on the size of the garden for me. Mine has become too large to deadhead everything so I'm reducing the number of plants that are prolific self-seeders. I don't mind deadheading a reasonable number of plants but don't want to do it full time. I think weedwhacking is the alternative for large gardens.

I hate it, but love to weed! Mary Lu, I've heard putting a dryer sheet (like Bounce) in your hat band or belt loop will repel insects, including gnats. I also use Sandalwood Vanilla Lotion stick which I get online from Mimi's Bees.

It depends on what I have to deadhead.

I hate to do vitex and crepe myrtles. To me they are so ugly with those brown spent bloosom ends, and they are so time comsuming to deadhead and cart the stems away.

I like doing smaller plants and roses because they reward me with more blooms.

Sox, how tall are your vitex and crape myrtles? My vitex is probably 15 feet tall and most of the crape myrtles are taller than that. I'll clip the lower flower heads for a second bloom, but no way I'm getting up on a ladder. ;)

natal
I pull the limbs that I am able to reach as far down as possible and clip away. I try not to look at the higher "stuff."LOL If the vitexes did not have such an interesting gnarly look in winter, I would probably get rid of them. I hate the lower suckering and the thousands of seedlings.

I just did my salvia cardonnas. It's so rewarding. Already
they are blooming again,just as upright as before only a little shorter. I also cut off Iris stems, both tall bearded
and Siberian. That garden looks so fresh again.

Chris

When deadheading your roses, do you simply snip off the spent bud or clip down to five-leaves? All these years, I've gone around and taken off the spent blooms; but a lady at the nursery told me to cut below that and above five leaves. I did that last year towards the end of the blooming season, and I think I got more new growth than usual afterwards.

I love deadheading. Since my garden is still a work-in-progress (I know everybody's is, but mine truly is just beginning) I love to go out and stare and think, and I deadhead as I stare, looking at each plant, how it grows, what's going on...what weeds are hiding at the base. I do love deadheading. Very calming for me, too!

grandmachris, what zone are you in? i have irises that were planted last year. so i am not sure if i will get a flower this year or should i be cutting them back. if so how and how much?

tia

LOVE deadheading, in PJs, of course. Especially irises, daylilies, and roses. Not so much pelargoniums, crown pinks, or anything else with abundant, small blooms.
Schoolhouse, I break off the heads of some roses (usually floribundas)until the cluster is done blooming, then I prune to a promising bud. I cut down to the first five leaves in the direction I want the plant to grow for the hybrid teas.

That's what I spent all morning yesterday doing - deadheading the roses, and I did it as you mentioned. Thanks, hosenemesis!
(love your moniker) :)

It depends on what flower you are deadheading. Right now I need to deadhead several flowers..one is Zagreb coreopsis. The bees love it and it is hard for me to tell if the tiny buds are ready to bloom or have finished blooming and need deadheading. I bought some pretty geraniums from Home Depot, the only purchases I have bought besides dianthus..I was about ready to pull them up a few weeks ago and all of a sudden, they have started to do like they should. I find that the hotter the temps for them, the better they look. I think they got a bad start at growers and HD because of the rainy Spring we had. Had trouble with bottom yellow leaves. Gradually getting better. Before last week, I was having to deadhead so many blooms and I attibuted that to the rainy weather. I'm stumped on what to do with rose campion. This is the first time I've ever grown it. Somebody suggested to let it reseed itself. There are expired blooms on it, but I don't see any signs of any dropping on the ground. If I deadhead it manually, will more bloom come on it or does it only bloom once? Do I need to cut it down to the base plant?
Will it return if I cut it all the way back?

Early summer I love it & it's exciting to see what is blooming new each day, but by the end I'm bored with it.

Always more interesting when I'm sharing the garden with someone else on working together talking, cutting, & pinching. Time flies then & my garden looks better in no time especially when my hubby follows behind picking up the piles.

My favorite is to snip up & drop in place if small. If not I will usually try to cut back & toss thinly on the lawn right before my hubby or son mow. I pick up any clumps left behind to tuck under larger plants. It is easier that way & they compost faster.

For the past week I've been cutting back the earlier blooming hardy geraniums (macro & phaeum) in several gardens. I don't like the crew cut look, but know in 2-3 weeks they'll be full again & look great all summer.