By Brett Tannehill, Alabama Public Radio
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wual/local-wual-483859.mp3
APR's Gardening Series -- Deadheading
Tuscaloosa, AL – Alabama's second growing season is fast approaching. The cooler days of Fall are a great time to enjoy your yard and garden. As our Monday morning gardening series continues, we'll learn that a little light pruning now will pay off big later. Brett Tannehill reports.
Butterflies float above a colorful flowerbed in front of a greenhouse at the University of Alabama's Arboretum. A volunteer is snipping and removing old blooms from the bed ... a practice horticulturalist Mary Jo Modica calls "deadheading."
"So deadheading is really an important part of this time of the summer's gardening chores. Because you want to keep you flowers blooming freshly and keep them looking their best."
Modica inspects a cluster of White Bush Salvia, which if filled with long stalks of white, violet-shaped flowers. Some have new buds, waiting to burst open. Others have already spent their blooms. Modica says its best to cut those old stalks away, all the way down to just above the first sign of new growth.
"Very close to where the old flower stalk is, there's a tiny little bud of a stalk coming up. So by removing that you give the new one a better chance."
Modica also says don't wait until a stalk finishes blooming. Cutting and removing mostly spent blooms also helps the plant redirect its energy toward new growth. Coleus and impatients are two common plants that benefit from deadheading this time of year. Geraniums can also take a good pruning ... and they like it a bit on the dry side until Fall begins. Cut spent blooms from roses as well ... but save any harder pruning of roses, shrubs or hedges until later in the Fall. Also, later in the Fall, allow your plants to finish their bloom cycles, so they can provide seeds for next year.
In next week's installment of our Monday morning gardening series, we'll learn some tips on watering and fertilizing, and why watering in the middle of the day can be bad for your plants.
For the Alabama Report, I'm Brett Tannehill.