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It’s about more than a neater garden.
Dramatic, elongated lily blooms appear only once a year for a short two- to four-week show. Since they won’t rebloom later in the season, it seems like a no-brainer that you can skip deadheading them. If you don’t deadhead lilies, it doesn’t hurt the plant. They’ll go to seed and you’ll eventually have more lilies. But wait. Removing spent blooms can actually benefit lily plants and you’ll have larger, healthier blooms next season. If you’re not sure what to do with spent lily blooms, here’s what happens if you let them go to seed or deadhead them instead, and the benefits you may not be aware of.
Should You Deadhead Lilies?
If your lilies bloom, fade, and go to seed, you’ll still have beautiful lilies next year. And that may be the way you’ve always done it. If you leave the spent blooms, they’ll develop into large seed pods that will eventually split open and disperse hundreds of small seeds that may germinate and grow into more lilies. Without deadheading the plant, it will expend its energy on seed production.
As the seed pod forms, though, it takes nutrients away from the bulb, which stores energy for next year’s blooms. Deadheading lilies can help your plant divert its energy from producing seeds to storing the energy for larger, stronger, more vibrant flowers next year. The plant can also use that energy to survive the winter. Snipping off faded flowers also keeps your garden looking neat without having dead flowers hanging around.
Which Lilies Benefit From Deadheading?
Deadheading is beneficial for true lilies like Asiatic lilies, tiger lilies, trumpet lilies, and Oriental types. Orienpet lilies, which are hybrids of Oriental and trumpet lilies, should also be deadheaded. Other hybrid types like Martagon generally don’t need deadheading, but it can improve the appearance of your garden if you want to tidy them up. Even though canna lilies and daylilies aren’t true lilies, snipping off spent blooms improves the health of their flowers the following year.
When To Deadhead Lilies
Mid-summer blooms open from July or later and blooming lasts a few weeks. Each stem produces multiple flowers, and each lasts for several days for a continuous display. When the flowers have begun to fade or drop all of their petals, grab the pruners and deadhead them to keep them from going to seed.
How To Deadhead Lilies
It’s important to note that when deadheading lilies, you’ll only be removing the spent flowers, not the stems. Cut individual flowers off where the flower stem meets the main stem. If all of the blooms on a stalk have faded or dropped, snip the entire section off just below the lowest flower but above any leaves. Do not remove any leaves because they are important for next year’s growth. They will continue to photosynthesize, absorbing sunlight to convert to energy that will feed the lily’s bulb. These leaves can remain until they begin to die back and yellow in the fall. If you remove these too early, it can stunt next year’s growth or possibly kill the plant. Make cuts at a 45-degree angle, and make sure pruners are clean and sharp to prevent diseases from entering. Sanitizing the pruners between cuts prevents disease spread.
Read the original article on Southern Living
