Even though the summer garden is past its peak and starting to slow down in August, there are still quite a few maintenance jobs to keep on top of. Neglecting to do them can sabotage your late-season display, leaving you with a bare fall landscape.
To prioritize what's left on my summer gardening checklist, I turned to a gardening pro. She said there's one gardening job everyone forgets to do in August that can make a huge difference come September: removing seed heads. Removing them redirects the plant's energy into producing new blooms, and August is really the last reliable window to do this before temperatures are too cool and plants start to enter dormancy.
It's a neat trick to extend your display and carry over some late-summer color and interest to your fall garden – all you need is a sharp pair of pruning snips, like these Fiskars ones from Amazon. We explain why it's key to remove some seed heads now and when to leave them alone.
Why Remove Seed Heads in August?
'The main reason to remove seed heads in August is to keep a flowering plant going a bit longer,' says Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck. 'Those seed heads take away energy from the plant, so if they are dead, you can remove them and redirect that energy towards producing more flowers if it's capable of re-blooming,' she explains.
Essentially, removing seed heads is deadheading a plant to encourage another flush of blooms while the plant is still in it's active growth season. With temperatures still warm in August, it's the last window to get results.
'It also just makes a summer garden look a bit fresher rather than having those dead heads throughout your garden,' Lindsey adds.
However, it's important to note not plants will react to seed head removal with more blooms. For example, some hydrangeas only produce one round of flowers in a season, so seed head removal isn't necessary.
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'There are certain plants that respond better to deadheading. Those are like cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, and other perennials,' says Lindsey.
To remove these seed heads, use essential pruning tools (like these Felco F2 pruning shears from Lowe's). 'I usually cut the spent flower back to a healthy set of leaves or to the next flower bud, rather than just pulling off the petals,' Lindsey advises.
'However, I would not remove every dead head in the garden.'
Lindsey Chastain, a dedicated homesteader and skilled writer, is the driving force behind The Waddle and Cluck, a platform that celebrates sustainable living, gardening, and responsible farming
When to Leave Seed Heads
It's beneficial to allow some plants to produce seed heads to bring architectural interest to your yard and even help feed birds in winter.
'Go through your garden and decide which plants you want to keep flowering and deadhead those, but you also want to pick some that you want to let go to seed. If you leave some of those seed heads, especially on coneflowers, sunflowers, or black-eyed Susans, you can collect seeds for next year,' Lindsey advises.
This seed tin and packets set from Amazon has everything you need to collect and store seeds from your garden for planting next year.
'Self-seeding flowers may also drop the seeds into your soil. I don't actually ever plant new sunflowers or coneflowers. I just let the deadheads go to seed and drop. Dropping those seeds also will help feed birds as their food sources dry up and we get closer to winter,' Lindsey explains.
Our guide to the best plants for seed heads has more guidance on which of your garden plants to leave for your fall garden.
What to Shop
This seed collecting kit has seed packets, plant labels, and a tin so you can harvest and store seeds from your yard.
These long-sleeved gardening gloves are thorn-proof. They protect both your hands and arms when tending to plants.
Use these pruning snips to deadhead your plants and remove seed heads. They have a micro-tip for precise cuts on smaller stems.
If you do collect seeds from your yard this fall, make sure to read up on seed storage mistakes. Keeping them somewhere wet could sabotage their viability and next year's display. Likewise, when it comes to planting your collected seeds, avoid these seed sowing mistakes to improve your chances of success.
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