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Vanderbilt Estate
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The Vanderbilt Gardens
in August
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Some annual plants require some work to keep them looking nice, others
do not. Salvia, for example, usually does not require "dead heading"
(clipping old, spent blooms off of the plants). Neither do begonias.
Zinnias, marigolds and canna do require regular maintenance. This is
in part to keep the beds looking nice. However, there is a biological
reason too. The flowers are the way the plants reproduce, by either
producing seeds or by attracting insects for pollenation. By allowing
the old blooms to remain on the plant, it will continue on its normal
life cycle and start to die back once it has finished reproducing.
By keeping the old blooms clipped, you are fooling the plant into
producing more, fresh blooms. This is especially true of annuals,
who are in a hurry to reproduce due to their short life cycles.
Regular clipping also forces the plant to produce more branches, thus
producing a fuller looking plant. This is particularly true of
the coleus. It is usually a good idea to pinch off the flowers on
coleus as they form. This forces the plant to produce more foliage,
which is the desirable part of the coleus.
Next slide in show for August
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