But what about when those flowers are spent?
Should you deadheadzinnias, or leave faded flowers on the plant?
Here’s how to deadhead zinnias to keep your garden looking tidy and promote fresh blooms all summer long.
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Should You Deadhead Zinnias?
Short answer: Yes, it’s a good idea todeadheadyour zinnias.
Removing spent flowers from your zinnia plants can help promote reblooming and extend bloom time.
Leaving that dying material on the plant will take up nutrients it could otherwise use to rebloom.
Deadheading leads to more colorful blooms for you and the pollinators in your garden to enjoy.
It keeps plantings looking healthy and strengthens their growth.
Want more gardening tips?
It’s a good idea to deadhead regularly as spent blossoms appear.
Zinnias will continue blooming into fall, which is a good time to stop deadheading for the year.
Instead, leave faded flowers on the plant to develop seeds before the first frost.
Those seeds can provide a valuable food source for birds over the winter.
Here’s how to do it.
Zinnias don’t require pinching, but they do benefit from deadheading when flowers are spent.
Pinching is a form of pruning, often done when plants are young, before flower buds have set.
The purpose of pinching is to encourage full, bushy growth rather than tall, leggy plants.
Deadheading zinnias as flowers fade and turn brown will help promote new blooms and fuller, bushier plant growth.
This is why zinnias make such excellent additions to cutting gardens.
Zinnias for the Home Garden.Penn State Extension Master Gardeners.
To Deadhead or Not?
Your Final Answer is…, Penn State Extension
Pinching and Deadheading Your Plants.Illinois Farm Bureau.
Zinnia.University of Minnesota Extension.
