Removing spent flowers

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I just planted Asiatic lilies and have been reading up on them. Everywhere I look it says to remove spent flowers. Nowhere do I find just how to do this. Is this the same as deadheading? I'm wondering if I should just pull the wilted leaves off the stem or cut the stem back to the ground.
Lilies and Roses.JPG
 
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Don't know either, Gardentoad. Hope some one can help us.:(
Yours look lovely. They are a very dramatic flower. I love it when mine come out. I have deep pink and yellow ones.
I'd also love some help on pinching fuschias. I have some very pretty fuschias but they are pretty woody so my pinching technique Isn't working very well :mad:
I probably need to be cruel to be kind!!o_O
 
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Leave the leaves, remove the old flowers and the small bump where the flower meets the stem. The leaves will continue to feed the bulbs for next year, but the bump will develop seeds, which robs the rest of the plant of nutrients--kind of like roses developing hips.
Those are beautiful Asiatics!
 
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QUOTE="marlingardener, post: 57551, member: 1535"]Leave the leaves, remove the old flowers and the small bump where the flower meets the stem. The leaves will continue to feed the bulbs for next year, but the bump will develop seeds, which robs the rest of the plant of nutrients--kind of like roses developing hips.
Those are beautiful Asiatics![/QUOTE]
Makes sense. Like leaving daffodils long after they have "passed their use by date" In order to feed next years crop. Very hard to do I find because they look so awful. I don't find it so hard to leave the asiatics though. There's still something quite structural about their stems and leaves. I've not actually known to actually remove the bumps. Will do. Thanks:)
 
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Leave the leaves, remove the old flowers and the small bump where the flower meets the stem. The leaves will continue to feed the bulbs for next year, but the bump will develop seeds, which robs the rest of the plant of nutrients--kind of like roses developing hips.
Those are beautiful Asiatics!
Thank you. Perfect explanation.
 
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Pip, Weigelas are a spring blooming shrub--one big flush of bloom, and then that's it until next spring. If you want to prune them (which will not lead to another flush of blooms) you can do so just after they finish their bloom. The pruning is to shape the shrub, or keep it in bounds.
When we lived in upstate NY, we had a variegated weigelia that we kept low-growing by careful pruning. It was magnificent in the spring, and a nice looking background for other flowers.
 
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You should remove the flower right down its stem. I cut them and make flower arrangements even before the flower gets it name 'spent' :)
 
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GardenToad I'm sorry I hijacked your thread but I had to ask when it was still in context.
Thank you Marlingardener & grouie. I havent had any experience at all with Weigela so am a little afraid. I should pull out my Thalassa Cruso book and get recharged with boldness!
 

Pat

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Deadheading my rose bush is something I am really slow on. I have to go out now and cut back the last blooms, the poor bush looks so tried with the old dead flowers on it this post has made me feel ashame that I am not taking better care of my bush.
 
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Pat, deadheading roses is called "therapy" on our farm. An hour or two (or more) spent clipping spent roses, putting them in the garden basket, and then dumping them on the compost pile is as close to heaven as I'll ever get!
Some roses tend to set "hips" which are actually seed pods. If the old blooms are not cut off, the rose will set hips and think its duty is done. Setting seeds is the primary reason any plant blooms--flower, pollinated, seeds, okay that's all I need to do!
 

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