Expert: C.L. Fornari - 7/14/2010

Question
I live in Northern California near Eureka and have my Gazania's in pots. I deadheaded one to just above the first leaf growth below the bloom. Then I realized that this might not be correct, so I went on-line to learn more. My question is...since I cut to far down on the stem when deadheading have I harmed it's potential to grown more blooms? Is there a way to correct my mistake?
Thanks,
Rebekah

Answer
Rebekah,
Sorry for the delay in answering - this question must have been delivered to my spam folder or something - wasn't aware of it until I got a note from AllExperts today.

I think you did just fine with deadheading the Gazanias. There is not hard and fast rule for deadheading, although if the stems that lead to the flowers have leaves on them the plant is more likely (but not guaranteed) to produce more flowers from that stem. Although Gazanias have some small leaves on the stems that hold the flowers, they usually form new flowering stems from the base of the plant, so cutting them way down is fine. If you want to experiment you might cut a few off right below the flower, and see if any of those stems go on to produce blooms, but in my experience any few flowers that are produced from that stem are smaller and the empty stem looks kind of ugly, so I prefer to cut them back toward the base even further than you did.

Experimentation is all part of the fun of gardening, and sometimes we discover new ways of doing things even if they "break all the rules."

all the best,
C.L.