Deadheader—sounds like a bad rock band from the eighties, doesn’t it? But no, I am a deadheader of the garden variety.
These are my window boxes full of petunias, pink impatiens, geraniums, and creeping jenny. This spot gets partial shade and partial sun at different times of the day. The petunias love the sun and the impatiens seem to bloom even more as long as they get plenty of water. To ensure blooms all summer I deadhead about twice a week.
Deadheading is the removal of dead or spent flowers to encourage more blooms and improve the overall appearance of the plant. It in effect fools Mother Nature by preventing the flower from going to seed. Some blooms like these petunias can be merely pinched off. Others like geraniums should be snipped at the bottom of the stem.
This year, because Charlie, a high spirited springer spaniel puppy, is temporarily living with us, I decided to save us all some heartache and plant all my annuals in containers. We’re all happier that way.
The ivy and grasses survive year round in the pots and provide a good back drop for each spring’s new annuals. This pot also contains rosemary and a new little herb I planted for the first time. It’s called boxwood basil and is bushy and compact just like a true boxwood. Pinching its leaves also encourages new growth and of course the leaves have the same flavor and smell as regular basil. Hibiscus will usually drop their own faded blooms themselves, but you can speed the process and promote more bloom by removing them.
More pink and white impatiens and another shade of pink hibiscus. This also contains lavender that I have planted for the first time. That’s the the Ole Miss Colonel Rebel watching over the pot---he’ll soon be replaced by a new mascot.
My pink hydrangeas have bloomed their little hearts out!
I am joining Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday and Laurie at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie for My Favorite Things. Container gardening and pink flowers are two of my favorite things! Happy Saturday and thanks for stopping by!
