The garden may have yet to explode into flower, but we all know that when it does (and that moment is only around the corner) maintaining some semblance of calm can feel a bit overwhelming, especially when the main priority is to kick back and enjoy the garden. I have the solution and it involves - in most cases - your thumb and forefinger.
Deadheading is your get-out-of-jail-free card - achievable in five minute bursts, whilst chatting to friends, and with a glass of something delicious in the other hand. You will be amazed at how the garden will rejuvenate if you keep doing this, little and often.
The idea is a simple one - plants make flowers in order to attract insects who pick up pollen, and unwittingly transfer it from one plant to another. Once this happens, the flower then sets seed, which is a bit like cooking a baby (beyond exhausting). If we remove blooms as soon as we see them go over, we can stop this process, and make the plant produce more flowers in an attempt to make more seed.
Practically speaking, removing the flowers should be done in what ever way is the easiest. For roses, just grab hold of the flower, grasping the swollen bit beneath the flower, and snap it off cleanly. For bedding plants like pansies or petunias it’s the same thing, but more of a pinch than a snap. For perennials you may need a pair of scissors but exactly the same rules apply - deadhead as soon as a flower isn’t at its peak.
In terms of what you should and shouldn’t deadhead, use your own aesthetic leanings, leaving anything that looks good in death, or plants whose berries or seeds you love, well alone, as well as sparing a thought for the birds, who rely on seed-heads for vital nutrients.
x Laetitia