• Most plants – especially annuals – are in business to produce seeds. When you snip off dead flowers, you prevent seed production, and the plants respond by producing more flowers--we like that--even a brown thumb can do this!
• In most cases, you can remove spent blooms with a pinch of your fingers right at the base of the dead flower.
• For long-stemmed flowers, such as daisies and zinnias, it’s better to remove the entire stem. Use scissors or pruning shears if stems are tough.
• To save on trips to the compost pile, keep a bucket in the garden to collect spent blooms. (I'm still learning how to compost, we'll go over this another time)

• Though some annuals, such as impatiens, drop their flowers and don’t require deadheading, even these plants respond well to being “pinched back”.
• Removing a few inches of the stem as well as any dead flowers will maintain a fuller, more compact shape.
• Getting rid of dried flower heads will also keep your garden looking neat and attractive--something we all try to do from time to time!  
• Some shrubs and perennials, including delphiniums, yarrow, foxgloves and roses, respond to deadheading with a second flush of blooms. But even if the plant doesn’t rebloom after deadheading, you’ll be helping it concentrate on producing healthy vegetative growth rather than seeds.
• Don’t forget to deadhead spring-blooming bulbs, too. Removing spent blooms will encourage the plants to form bigger clumps and produce more flowers next season.

   

*Some plants respond well to shearing rather than the removal of individual blossoms.

*Use a grass shears or scissors to cut off spent flowers. Don’t worry if you remove some unopened buds and foliage as they will grow back quickly.

*This technique works well on coreopsis, perennial geraniums, sweet alyssum, dwarf mums, and ageratum.

For further garden information like this check out www.gardeners.com

O.k. here's a great smoothie recipe I just tried, Oh, so good!!

Peach Pie Passion Smoothie