Deadhead These Flowers in May For Stronger Plants and Lots More Blooms – it Takes Seconds and Transforms Your Garden

May marks the start of deadheading season, and this is one garden chore you don’t want to skip. Out of all the jobs in the garden, deadheading flowers is the one that delivers the biggest rewards for a minimal amount of your time. Now spring is well underway, I nip out into the garden every evening for five minutes to deadhead flowers, but even if you only find time once a week, you’ll quickly notice how many more flowers are filling your backyard.

There are plenty more reasons why you should deadhead, from growing stronger, healthier plants to keeping your garden looking tidy. Deadheading is also the perfect excuse to nip out into the garden every day for a moment of peace and quiet – I time my little backyard sanity break for before I start the chaos of a family dinner. And goodness knows, that’s just as big a benefit as all those extra blooms!

What is Deadheading?

Deadheading is simply the task of removing faded flowers from a plant. The prime reason for doing this is to divert the energy a plant would use to create seeds into growing more flowers. It's rather a morbid term, and I always wonder if more gardeners would deadhead if this task had a more positive name such as new-blooming!

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Most plants have one simple life goal: reproduction. Flowering plants do this by blooming and producing nectar to attract pollinators then, once a flower has been pollinated, setting seed. Many modern cultivars have been bred to flower far more abundantly than their forebears, but still, for most, once they’ve successfully set seed, blooming significantly reduces as the plant pours its energy into ensuring those precious seeds develop. Snipping off the fading flowers before they set seed interrupts that cycle and forces the plant to grow more flowers, and try again.

For annual flowering plants that only live for a year or less, the effect of deadheading is profound, as setting seed is the only way they can leave a legacy behind. Once an annual plant has created seed, its life mission is complete, and it can die happy – but repeatedly deadhead its fading blooms and it will live, and keep flowering, for a lot longer.

Even with perennial plants that live for years, you’ll see a marked effect if you deadhead. Deadheading causes many flowering perennials to produce a second flush of blooms later on in the year. And, with plants that only produce a single set of flowers each year, deadheading diverts the energy that would go into seed production into growing stronger, for abundant blooms the following year.

When To Start Deadheading

May is typically the month to begin deadheading, depending on your USDA zone. Spring bulbs and early flowerers are finishing, while many annuals are adorned with their first flowers. The moment to deadhead is when the petals start to fade. As soon as a flower has been pollinated, the plant will typically stop pumping its energy into supporting those enticing petals and producing nectar as it no longer needs to attract pollinators, and instead use it to set seed.

How to Deadhead Flowers

The very best tool to deadhead most plants is your hands, and faded flowers will snap off in just the right spot. For thin stems, you can also use your thumbnail to slice through the stem.

A pair of hand pruners such as these from Amazon will deal with thicker stems, and it you have a plant that flowers profusely on thin stems, such as cosmos, a pair of bonsai scissors such as these from Amazon speeds up the task no end. Pinching the kitchen scissors also works!

Later in the year, when you come to deadhead plants that flower on multiple stems above a mound or mat of foliage, a pair of hedging shears such as these from Amazon gets the job done in seconds.

Simply remove the faded flower where it joins the stem, or just above the first set of healthy leaves below. If a plant has spikes with multiple small flowers, cut the whole spike off once all the flowers have faded or when those that bloomed first start setting seed.

What Plants To Deadhead in May

There are four groups of flowers that need deadheading in May.

1. Spring Bulbs

Once the flowers of daffodils, hyacinths and tulips fade to brown, snip the blooms off to prevent them forming seed pods, which will drain energy from the bulb that could be used for next year’s growth. With daffodils, make sure you remove the swollen area just behind the flower as this is where the seeds form. With most spring bulbs, you can easily snap the stem just below the flower, using your finger or thumb, or use a pair of hand pruners.

Don’t remove the leaves but let them naturally die back, which will take around 4–6 weeks, during which time they’ll be busy photosynthesising to store energy in the bulb for next year.

2. Early–Flowering Shrubs

Rhodoendrons, azaleas, lilacs and camellias all need deadheading once the flowers fade. The easiest way is to use your finger and thumb to snap the old blooms off at their base, where they meet the stem, as they’ll naturally break at this point. You can use a pair of hand pruners, too.

Most spring-flowering shrubs bloom on old wood, which means they start growing next year’s flowerbuds on the stems they produce this summer. So, by removing spent flowers, you give your shrub maximum time and energy to focus on growing those buds for a dazzling display next year.

3. Perennials

Aquilegia, geums, many verbascum (mullein), hardy geraniums, wallflowers and even some salvias will all be in flower by May, and snipping off the faded blooms will keep them in bloom. Use hand pruners to cut anywhere below the spent flower down to just above the next set of leaves, branching stems or buds. For flower spikes such as verbascum and any early salvias and lupines, remove the entire spike once blooms fade.

Peonies and roses also need deadheading once flowers fade, cutting just above the set of leaves below the spent bloom.

Many perennials self-seed liberally, so removing spent flowers will prevent them from spreading too enthusiastically around your garden. If you want them to spread, of course leave the blooms intact to set seed.

4. Biennials and Annuals

In May, annuals such as pansies and violas will still be flowering, as well as some summer bloomers such as petunias and cosmos. Many annuals grown for hanging baskets are marketed as ‘self-cleaning’, meaning they’ll keep flowering even if you don’t deadhead them – but even they will bloom more abundantly if you snip off aging flowers.

Biennials (plants that flower in their second year of life) such as foxgloves may also produce a second flush of blooms if deadheaded.

The stems of most annuals are thin so it's an easy job to pinch off faded flowers with your hands, or snip off with hand pruners, bonsai scissors or kitchen scissors.

Annuals are particularly responsive to deadheading, as setting seed is the only way they can leave a legacy before they die. Continuously reblooming takes a lot of energy, however, especially for a plant that hasn't had long to grow its root system, so it’s a smart idea to nourish with a general purpose fertilizer such as this from Amazon.

Does Deadheading Reduce Food For Wildlife?

You don’t need to worry about depriving pollinators by removing spent flowers as, once petals start to fade, the nectar resource is typically spent. Removing faded flowers on many plants will encourage more blooms, and so provide more nectar for wildlife. Do think about what seeds and berries you’re preventing from forming, though. These are a valuable food resource for many birds and other wildlife, particularly in fall and winter. This won’t be affected by deadheading in May but, as summer progresses, do leave some flowers to set seed to feed wildlife.

When Should I Stop Deadheading?

Once you see that a plant is producing smaller, less abundant flowers, it’s time to stop snipping the fading blooms. Of course, if you want your plant to self-seed or you wish to collect some seed to sow next year, leave the plant to set seed a little earlier. You may also want to leave some roses if you’d like rosehips in fall, and some seedheads for winter structure.

By October, you’ll have finished deadheading.