Deadheading guara and snapdragon

[Ragdoll]

All,

I've added guara lindheimeri (whirling butterflies) to my garden this year. I've read that I should deadhead to promote continued flowering, but I'm unsure how to do this. Do I cut the whole stem down?

I have the same problem with my rocket snapdragons. (or any of the snapdragons, for that matter) Do I just remove the seed pods or cut the whole stem? They continue to produce more flowers at the tip as they grow, so I'm always hesitant to cut the whole stem. Will it grow new ones?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,

Rags

[Bourne Identity]

Yes, you cut the entire stems down to where the plant's foliage is. I usually gather handfuls of the stems and just cut them off. They are probably full of aphids (if you are organic and don't use pesticides). I love the aphids because at any given time I have thousands of ladybeetle's at all stages of development in my garden. If you wish, you can do a little bit of side dressing to the plants after you deadhead to encourage new blooms. They will bloom in approximately a month after you do this.

Snapdragons are cool season annuals. They will either go dormant for the summer or melt away altogether. Where we live, the snaps are already melted and gone. However, if you can tolerate their rangy look till the seed pods ripen, they will more than likely return as soon as the weather cools off (provided you have ample moisture to germinate the seeds). Many times the seeds do not come true and you may get another color than the one you planted.

[litterbox]

Thanks for the info, Identity, on the guara. As for the snapdragons, I DID specifically mention Rocket, and that does usually just bloom 1x each year, but I also have other, smaller varieties, like 'Liberty' and the dwarf varieties that bloom can pretty much all summer if properly deadheaded here in Kentucky, zone 6A. I just don't know whether to pinch them back at the stems, or remove the seed pods. I've had limited success with the dwarfs by pinching them. But the taller ones? Success anyone?

Thanks,

Rags

[Bourne Identity]

Deadheading anything is the removal of the spent flower. On plants which have stalks I remove the entire stem where the flower emerged. An example of this is an iris. When I dead head an iris I remove the entire stem of the flower as low as I can, closest to the foliage.