Question
What is deadheading, and how do you do it? I think it has something to do with removing dead blooms, but I'm not sure how close to the bloom to make the cut, and I don't know what to do with skinny, flimsy branches. I have azaleas and hydrangeas.

Answer
Hello Joyce

You are absolutely right about dead-heading being removing faded and fading blooms.

On Azaleas you leave the flowers until they are completely dead and the petals have fallen.  At that stage you can see the seed heads on long 'stalks' in clusters, beginning to develops where the flowers grew.  These are the things you need to get rid of.

Once they feel dry to the touch, just go the bottom of the seed clusters and look for new leaves forming - there will usually be 2 or 3.  Between the new leaves is where you need to remove the seeds - the whole cluster will normally just snap off, but be careful not the take off the leaves at the same time!  A friend of mine is very nervous about doing this as he is a little shaky, so he just removes the individual seeds - it takes longer, but it seems to work of him!

With Hydrangeas you should wait until the spring before you cut off the dead flowers, as they act as protection from cold during the winter for next summer's developing buds.  Only cut off the faded flowers, unless you need to reduce the plant (perhaps because it has become too big for its space).  In this case you will sacrifice some flowers the next summer - but the plant will recover the year after that.

On both plants any skinny or damaged stems can be cut off as far down the plant as possible, top keep the it looking neat and attractive.

I hope this is of some help to you.

Gill