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Notebook · Guide 1 October 2026 · seasonal

Deadheading: more flowers for free — and when to stop

Removing faded flowers keeps bedding, roses and many perennials blooming for weeks longer. How to do it plant by plant, and which plants to leave alone for hips, seeds and birds.

seasonalsave your money
Finger and thumb pinching a faded petunia off by the stalk below the calyx, so the seed pod comes away with it, beside a fresh purple flower.
1Pinch off faded petunias, taking the seed pod behind the petals too.

Deadheading is the cheapest way to get more flowers. A plant that's left to set seed thinks its job is done; take the faded flowers off and many will keep trying. It costs nothing but a few minutes and a thumbnail — and knowing when to stop is as useful as knowing when to start.

In pictures

  1. A pelargonium stem: a faded flower cluster's stalk being pulled downwards and away from the main stem so it snaps off cleanly.
    2Pull spent pelargonium flower stalks down and away from the stem.
  2. A daffodil after flowering: fingers pinching off the spent flower and seed capsule, leaving the green stalk and all the leaves standing.
    3Daffodils: snap off the spent flower, leave the leaves standing.
  3. A cluster of plants left un-deadheaded for wildlife in autumn: rose hips, a dried sunflower head and cornflower seed heads, with a goldfinch-coloured small bird on the sunflower.
    4Leave hips and seedheads for birds — a goldfinch on a sunflower head.

01At a glance

  • When: whenever flowers look scruffy, whatever the time of year — little and often through the flowering season.
  • Tools: finger and thumb for most; secateurs or scissors for tougher stems.
  • You'll know it worked when: new buds keep opening for weeks after the first flush.

02How, plant by plant

  • Bedding (petunias, pansies, argyranthemums and the like): pinch or snap off faded blooms between finger and thumb, taking the swelling seed pod behind the petals too.
  • Pelargoniums: once a flower cluster has faded, pull its stalk downwards and away from the main stem so it snaps off cleanly.
  • Hybrid tea roses: snap the stalk just below the faded head. Other repeat-flowering roses: snip back to just above the next leaf.
  • Perennials and tougher stems: cut back to just above the next bud or leaf.
  • Shrubs: rhododendrons and azaleas, camellias, lilacs and tree peonies all benefit from having faded flowers removed.

03Daffodils: deadhead the flower, keep the leaves

  1. Pinch through the stalk just behind the seed capsule, leaving the green stalk standing.
  2. Leave the leaves alone until they turn yellow — usually about six weeks after flowering. They're feeding next year's bulb.
  3. Don't knot or tie the leaves. The RHS is explicit about this one.

04When not to deadhead

  • Plants grown for hips, berries or seedheads — rugosa roses, alliums, honesty.
  • Plants whose seed feeds birds — rudbeckias, cornflowers and sunflowers.
  • Anything you want to self-seed around the garden.
  • Late in the season, when leaving seedheads standing gives birds food and insects shelter over winter.

05Mistakes to avoid

  • Snapping off just the petals. Take the seed pod behind them, or the plant keeps putting energy into seed.
  • Cutting daffodil leaves while they're green.
  • Deadheading the plants you grow for winter interest.
Save your money
You don't need flower snips. Finger and thumb do most of it.
Don't buy feed to fix a plant that's stopped flowering mid-summer until you've tried deadheading. Only container daffodils really need a feed after flowering — a high-potash one such as tomato food.

How we checked this

Every care and safety claim on this page is verified against horticultural and veterinary sources.

Sources: RHS — Deadheading · RHS — How to grow daffodils

Checked 1 October 2026. If our advice ever conflicts with the RHS, believe them and tell us.