Why it's best not to loose your head....

13 years ago

With regards to deadheading that is ;-D

Some of you may have noticed on LL's 'make gardening more fun and less work' thread that I said this summer I sat outside enjoying the garden more and did less tidying around the yard. Well it actually proved to be a very interesting experiment as to what NOT to deadhead/cut back.

For a long time I had never thought about it and just went with the unspoken garden rule that after a plant is done blooming it must be cut back. This year, by doing less in the garden, I found out many things that look better when left as-is (to my eye anyway). Especially plants that have very tall, erect stems. Somehow these sorts always look strange when cut back- these tall stems that end it nothing. Like a bundle of twigs tied together or something! Perfect example would be Thalictrum. So much nicer looking when not whacked back after it is done blooming.

Of couse, there were a lot of things in my garden that looked horrible from not deadheading. Like the Campanula persicifolia. Those were hideous looking after the blooms faded! But here are some examples I thought were kinda' nice:

Dark brown Aconitum and Trollius stems and heads against the blue oat grass.

White coneflowers against an un-deadheaded goldenrod.

I tend to cut things back to the ground when there is no avoiding it. But in general I hate to do that because there is such a big gaping hole until the plant grows again (and that can sometimes take a great while). How about you guys? What plants look better to you NOT cut back? Are you the sort that prefers to give everything a trim or leaves some things as is?

Would love to hear! Any pics you have are very welcome too!

CMK

Comments (8)

flora_uk
13 years ago
I agree. Seed heads can look wonderful especially when frosted or topped with snow. They become 'flowers' all over again. They also provide winter shelter for beneficials like ladybugs and winter food for birds. If you have a spacious garden I would certainly leave some of the more attractive ones. If you have self-sowers you will also be getting free plants. A garden isn't a best parlour - it doesn't have to be kept spotless and tidy.
irene_dsc
13 years ago
Well, I do a combo - partly to encourage re-bloom, and to slow down the self-seeders. ;). I'll also say that I never leave straight stalks to nothing - if all the blooms on that stalk are done, I cut it back to either the base or some logical spot where it doesn't look silly.
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flowergirl70ks
13 years ago
My daughter clued me in about deadheading White Admiral phlox. She said DO NOT cut them back!! They will bloom again on the same seedhead. I said, no way. Well, I tried it and she was right. They are blooming again on the same stalk, same head. I still can't believe it. They even look better than they did the first time. By the way, this phlox never gets mildew.
Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
13 years ago
Christin, I used to deadhead (whenever I thought about it) as the blooms had finished. Then a number of years back I was wandering through a friend's garden and noticed the black pearl seed heads on her Penstemon 'Husker's Red'. I could have kicked myself for deadheading mine!

After that, I started to let things go to seed to explore that part of a plants life cycle. Most of the time I also wait until spring to cut back most of my garden. Right now the birds are all over some of the seed heads that are in the garden.
This is a picture of the cottage area from last November. With our short season, I'll take whatever beauty from plants I can get. There is something beautiful even in fading plants.

I've also decided to try to start more plants from seed so that is yet another reason for me to let things go.
ogrose_tx
13 years ago
Thyme2dig, that is gorgeous! For the first time, I'm not deadheading coneflowers and others this year, am looking forward to feeding the birds and seeing how it looks when we get our one snow storm this winter. I learn so much on this forum, especially that everything doesn't have to look perfect all the time. Thanks!
christinmk z5b eastern WA
Original Author
13 years ago
-Susan, wow! What a great picture. That Miscanthus is truly stunning. I tend to leave my ornamental grasses (ok, only have a couple, lol!) up over the winter too. Not that it does much once the snow comes and mashes em' to the ground. I think you said on another thread that you also leave your Rudbeckia 'Herbstonne' up too?

-ogrose, I have left my coneflower heads up the past few years and the birds really do seem to love them! Chickadees and goldfinches in particular.
CMK
Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
13 years ago
And who would have thought that the ugly, dark brown seed heads of Ligularia would eventually look like this if left to their own devices! Right now they look absolutely horrible, but this picture was from November.

In the spring most of the plant material is matted down and pretty crispy after winter. I find it very easy to clean up the dead, brown waste in spring as opposed to cutting so much plant material back in the photo in my last post. (pay no attention to the missing fence! we had a major storm last Feb that took out a few sections of fence. fortunately we were able to get them back in place!)

{{gwi:645900}}
schoolhouse_gw
13 years ago
Really beautiful thyme2dig.