Deadheading These 7 Flowers in August Will Give You Glorious Blooms Into Fall
Deadheading is a simple, enjoyable job for the month that brings great rewards
Flower beds and containers are likely in full bloom in August. Take time to revel in the performance, but don’t rest on your laurels, as deadheading is essential in summer to ensure you can continue to enjoy it for as long as possible.
Deadheading is the simple task of removing spent blooms from your flowering shrubs, perennials, and annuals. It keeps the plants looking neat and tidy, but more importantly, it encourages them to produce more flowers rather than expend energy on going to seed. Consider it a vital part of any summer gardening checklist, especially for roses, sweet peas, dahlias, bee balm, snapdragons, and more.
Checking plants and deadheading keeps plants blooming for weeks longer. It doesn’t need to take that long. And it can be done effectively with just a few cuts with a pair of clean, sharp pruning tools, like these Felco F2 pruning shears at Amazon, or even sometimes just with your fingers. We previously listed 7 plants to deadhead in August, but there are so many hugely popular flowers that also need some TLC this month. So let's look at another selection below:
Sweet Peas
If your sweet peas are like mine, they are looking glorious at the moment. I am regularly picking and deadheading the sweet peas, and the blooms just keep coming.
Sweet peas start to fade once seed pods are left to develop. When several seed pods form, the plant thinks its life is coming to an end and starts to die back.
The key is to stop that from happening, and you’ll get a longer season of flowers. This works with all sweet pea varieties. If you pick and deadhead the flowers often enough, the blooms can carry all the way through until fall.
Check your plants every few days to remove spent blooms and any seed pods that have started to form. Trace the old flower stalks back to another stem, and snip them off with sharp pruning snips.
You can get a pair of micro-tip Fiskars pruning snips at Walmart that are perfect for deadheading.
Dahlias
Your dahlias are probably starting to flower in early August, and you want that display to last as long as possible.
To keep dahlias blooming all summer long, deadheading is a must. It is probably the most important job to do with dahlias in August and guarantees you get the maximum blooms from the plants.
Deadheading is important for all types of dahlias. A crucial aspect of deadheading dahlias is understanding how to differentiate between a new bud and an old spent flower once the petals have dropped – as this can fool many gardeners new to growing dahlias.
Thankfully, there is a simple way to remember. A new bud is round and closed, and an old flower is pointed or pyramid-shaped. To avoid making any mistakes, don’t let the blooms go that far.
Once you see the flowers fading, cut them off back to the next set of leaves. These lightweight pruning shears at Burpee are great for flower trimming, vegetable harvesting, or deadheading.
Roses
Deadheading roses keeps them flowering all summer long. I worked in public gardens with lots of roses and spent many an hour diligently deadheading roses during the summer to keep the shrubs looking neat and the blooms coming for longer. It is a continuous part of summer rose care and should not be overlooked.
When you grow roses, you can either remove individual blooms by hand or with tools as they go over, or remove entire clusters with pruning shears once all the flowers have faded. Cut the roses back to just above the next set of leaves, and make an outward angled cut so water runs off.
Some types of roses don’t need deadheading. This includes self-cleaning roses, such as the Knock Out roses, which naturally drop spent blooms and only need summer pruning to tidy the shrub. You can get an ‘Orange Glow’ Knock Out rose at Nature Hills that’ll impress with fiery orange blooms.
Bee Balm
You don’t necessarily need to deadhead when growing bee balm. The plant will grow fine without it, and you’ll get a good show to enjoy, but maybe deadhead it for the pollinators.
Bee balm is adored by bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, who are drawn to its nectar-rich flowers. If you deadhead bee balm, it means a longer season of bright flowers for you and garden pollinators to enjoy. Regularly removing spent blooms can extend the season into late September or October – your bee balm can become a beacon plant for fall pollinators.
It can take as little as 5 or 10 minutes once or twice a week to remove blooms as they fade and turn brown. Trim the stem back to the first set of leaves. Then, once an entire stem has faded, you can cut it back to the crown.
This form of thinning prevents powdery mildew and can encourage new shoots to develop from the base and carry new flowers. If you do see powdery mildew, this copper fungicide at Amazon treats that and many other common diseases.
Petunia
Petunias are go-to summer annual plants for vibrant displays in beds, containers, or hanging baskets. You can get petunias in a wide range of colors, or even striking speckled types with white splotches on the bright petals (such as these Shock Wave petunia seeds at Botanical Interests) that make an immediate impact when you grow petunias in pots.
An essential way to keep petunias blooming all summer long is to fertilize the plants with a tomato feed every week or two (like this tomato fertilizer at Amazon) and deadhead them regularly. When you deadhead petunias at least weekly, they stay attractive, and you encourage more flowers.
The good news is that deadheading petunias is really quick, and you don’t even need pruning tools. You can pinch off the spent blooms between your thumb and forefinger. Or you can use pruning shears, scissors, or snips if you’d rather. The one mistake to avoid is pinching and not pulling, as pulling can uproot the entire plant.
Snapdragon
Snapdragons are vibrant flowers that start blooming in spring and can continue through late fall with the right care and attention. Central to keeping snapdragons flowering as long as possible is deadheading. When you grow snapdragons, deadheading is essential for continuous blooms.
Start deadheading snapdragons once the flowers start to wilt, drop petals, and turn brown. Snipping these off just above a leaf node, or pinching them off, stops seed pods developing and encourages new flowers. You can remove individual flowers, or entire stems once all the flowers on it have faded.
In August, you can also prune snapdragons back after the majority of the first flowers have faded. Cutting back up to 50% of the growth stimulates a second flush and a new set of blooms to enjoy into fall.
After cutting them back, feeding with a balanced liquid fertilizer will provide essential nutrients to help the plant produce new shoots. This all-purpose plant food at Amazon has an NPK of 10-10-10 and contains seaweed and iron – it is ideal for a quick dose of nutrients in summer.
Phlox
Phlox comes in a huge variety of sizes, forms, and colors, from tall, low-maintenance border plants to low-growing ground cover plants like creeping phlox.
The larger types of phlox commonly seen in flower beds and borders look and smell glorious in full flower, but turn a bit unsightly once they have gone over.
Deadheading phlox isn’t essential, but there are benefits to doing it in August. It improves the overall appearance and channels energy into new growth, encouraging a second flush of flowers from side shoots later in the season.
The other reason to deadhead when you grow phlox is to prevent self-seeding. It can reseed itself in the yard, and deadheading prevents huge numbers of little phlox plants becoming weeds across the garden.
Remove spent flowers regularly by cutting just above a leaf joint or bud. To encourage new blooms, ensure plants are watered throughout the summer and not left to dry out. A soil moisture meter, available at Amazon, can help you know when to water plants.
Shop Pruning Tools
These straight-bladed pruning snips have 190 mm chromium blades and polyurethane shock absorbers to reduce fatigue when deadheading, picking flowers, or harvesting edibles.
The blades of these pruning shears are made of high-grade steel, and the handles have a vinyl coating so you always remain in control when deadheading or pruning.
These pruning shears have a 1-3/4 inch cutting blade made from high-carbon Japanese SK-5 steel. They are great for deadheading, taking cuttings, and picking flowers.
Along with maintaining flower beds by deadheading, watering, and feeding in August, there are also opportunities to add to them for future displays.
To help you develop your borders for future seasons, see our guides to what to plant in August and flowers to sow in August. Whether you want quick-growing annuals for late-season color or perennials to put on a show for years to come, we’ve got you covered.
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