Deadhead your flowers-or not
By JOAN CROTHERS Sentinel Editor

Delphiniums will rebloom when cut back.

Gardeners know the term deadheading means to pick off spent flowers in your flower beds making the plants bloom more and for a longer time, prevents seeding which keeps them from spreading all over the place, and results in healthier plants and a fresher looking appearance.

Then too there are some plants that you want to go to seed late in their blooming time so they will come up next year, and some flowers you don't need to deadhead. Most flowers need their foliage to feed the plant.

Here are some hints on some popular flowers. No deadheading needed on: .astilbe-leave blooms until ratty-looking, then cut flower stems to ground; .tall sedum-leave seedheads for winter interest, wildlife or arrangements, cut down in spring as new growth starts; .purple coneflower-leave seedheads for birds, .turtlehead-seedpods add winter interest; .Siberian iris-remove entire stem when all flowers are finished.

Flowers that rebloom when cut back or keep on blooming by deadheading: balloon flower, blanket flower (Gaillardia), coral bells, delphinium, fernleaf bleeding heart, foamflower, Jupiter's beard, lavender, lupine, mountain bluet, salvia, shasta daisy, sneezeweed, speedwell, Stoke's aster, tickseed.

Coral bells come in many different colors, both the flowers and the leaves. They like sun. Here you have green leaves and red flowers.

Shearing coriopsis to the ground in August should mean a September and October rebloom. Cutting mullein to the ground after blooming may mean a rebloom, the same applies to Monkshood.

More coral bells with orange shaded foliage, silver frosted or veined foliage.