Essential gardening task encourages plants to produce more flowers

Gardening: Expert demonstrates how to deadhead flowers

The hot weather could mean some flowers are starting to fade and look dry. Once flower blooms are spent, gardeners can remove them by deadheading.

Deadheading is simply the term used for removing faded or dead flowers from plants.

Most garden plants can be deadheaded to keep them looking attractive. However, certain plants should be left as they can protect seeds and fruit for birds.

Gardening expert and managing director of Hedges Direct, Jamie Shipley has shared some of the benefits of deadheading plants exclusively with Express.co.uk.

Jamie said deadheading plants will “encourage flowering” and ensures plant debris doesn’t end up scattering across the garden.

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He continued: “If flowering plants are routinely deadheaded, they will often produce more flowers.

“This is so that flowers may focus all of their energy on producing seeds once they begin to set them.”

However, deadheading should not be mistaken for pruning. Pruning removes unhealthy and unproductive parts of the plant and is usually done at a selective time of year.

Ultra Decking’s managing director, Alan Jeffrey, said pruning is “essential” to a healthy and beautiful garden.

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He told Express.co.uk: “Pruning is the process of trimming and cutting the dead or diseased parts of the plant off to avoid spreading to other branches and to keep the plants growing.

“There’s nothing worse than trying to spend time in your garden and trying to relax in an overgrown mess that stops sunlight coming through and increases dropped debris.

“Overgrown plants can lead to increased maintenance, as you will need to pick up more leaves, fruits or berries which is both time-consuming and an eye sore.

“Therefore, it is imperative to accurately prune your bushes or trees.”

However, the best time to prune plants is late winter when plants and pests are dormant.

Gardeners will be able to prune without the risk of pathogens getting into the cuts which can lead to disease and decay.

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