As a child I was so unbothered by the outdoors that my mum would threaten to move us all to a flat without a garden if we didn’t start using our own. But I would happily deadhead daffodils of my own accord. I enjoyed the same things about it that I appreciate about gardening as an adult: the quiet repetition, the soft ease and satisfaction of it, the feel of pinching off a crispy little flower and swelling plant ovary into my palm. I still love snapping the stem of a spent daffodil.
That was spring, this is summer, but the principle remains the same. Plants exist to procreate in the form of reproducing seed. Many of us grow them because of the flowers they produce to attract pollinating insects to do just that. The flower is the main show for us, but simply a means to an end for the plant.
Once it has flowered, the plant will concentrate its energies on creating seed. Fine if you want seed – and we’ll get to that in a few weeks – but if you want another show, you need to stop the plant in its tracks. That’s where deadheading comes in.
At this time of year, it’s a gorgeous way to wind down. In my case, baby asleep, day cooled off, condensation beading on a glass, secateurs in hand. Depending on where you live in the country and what you have in the garden, it can be feverish. Roses are particularly demanding deadheaders – the neurotically tidy will want to cut them back to stop petals shedding everywhere (I quite like the romance of it, plus it skips the tiresome stage of “carrying to the compost bin” entirely) but active deadheading will keep them in flush for longer over summer.
This same principle – of removing “spent” or faded flowers to encourage more – applies throughout your garden, particularly with dahlias (if the bud is rounded, it’s about to flower; if it’s pointy, it already has) and sweet peas (the more you cut, the more they flower).
All require slightly different finesse. Flowers for the vase, such as sweet peas, will want to be cut as closely to the main stem as possible; trace the flower stem down to a joint and snip there. Cut rose stems to the flower cluster, making sure not to take out any still in bud or bloom.
As for the deadheads themselves, don’t do as Walter Fish, husband of the late, great gardener Margery, did and leave them on the lawn for someone else (usually her) to collect. Into the compost or vase; or, if you’ve a particularly laid-back approach, leave them on the soil to rot down of their own accord.
