Deadheading!

My good friends, Mike & Stacy, will jump for joy at this blog title. Long time Grateful Deadheads, they're also the kindest, most content, couple I've ever met.

I wonder if I should break down and listen to the cd's they burn for me? Maybe some day...

Alas, my subject is much more mundane. It's about Flower Power and following Queen's orders: 'Off with their heads!'

We may think flowers are here to entertain us, but that's not really the case. We want them to bloom all summer. The plant just wants to go to seed.

And, that's where deadheading comes into play.

When you remove spent blooms, the plant gets a little feisty. Flowering kicks into hyperdrive with bigger, stronger, more plentiful flowers the second time around. Lots of perennials will bloom twice a season (or more!) if you snip off the dead flowers. This is absolutely essential to get your money's worth out of annuals, since flowering is their only job.

For loads of color, all summer long, lop off their heads as soon as flowers start turning brown.