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Question
Do I just get rid of the dead heads or do I cut the whole plant off?
Take out your kitchen scissors and cut carefully the dried up flower at the end of each stalk. If you leave the head-less stalk, there's that much more chlorophyll making that much more energy for next year's blooms.
That's right.
This is when the Bulbs make NEXT YEAR's blooms!
Keep the leaves on. All these chlorophyll containers take sunlight and build the basic blooms, which are stored inside the Bulb underground. This by the way is why Bulb storage is important. Anything goes wrong with that Bulb is going to affect the contents, too. Next year's bloom could be BUSTED with a wet, hot Summer. Keep your Bulbs dry and underground, and next year, if they've not been turned into some Squirrel's breakfast, they may bloom beautifully.
Life is so complicated sometimes, isn't it?
Simple rule, however. Remove any flower you don't want to use up energy making Seeds. The Roses on a Rosebush. The Hydrangeas on a Hydrangea. The blooms on a Rose.
Thanks for writing.
THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER
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Long Island Gardener
Expertise
Growing Tulips? Dahlias? Daffodils? Gladiolus? It doesn't get easier than bulbs and tubers. Once in a while, something goes wrong: The dreaded Narcissus Bulb Fly, which resembles a honeybee. Mosaic virus, which can ignite a field of tulips in a single season. Nematodes, lurking underground. Here on the North Shore of Long Island, the garden is full of surprises. If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I can help you pick the right bulb for every season, indoors and out, and help you fertilize, bloom and harvest for home or work. How: I have degrees in related fields, but my best understanding is all learned from trial and error. For most of my 53 years I have been gardening somewhere. No matter what the problem, I've learned the best answers are always Organic -- Earth friendly, less expensive, healthier for people and pets, easier and cleaner than toxic liquids and powders that big chemical companies sell so smoothly.
Experience
Besides degrees in related fields, and a few favorite horticultural societies, I work as a docent at our local botanical gardens -- but it's the years of work in the garden that's the real test.
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