Good question, actually. Don't you just hate it when the answer is, "It depends."? I pinch off just the blossom on things like daffodils. I pull the florets off a hyacinth bloom so they don't set seed, but I leave the stem, as I read (don't know if it's true) that the green stem also makes chlorophyll as the leaves do. Lilies, you need to leave the whole stem with leaves to make food for next year's bloom. Just nip off faded blooms. On perennials and annuals, it also depends. Some stems I cut all the way back to the foliage, like the bare stem of a Gerbera daisy. On stokesia and zinnias, I cut back to just above the first joint, at which point a new stem will form and you'll get another bloom. If you're not sure, just nip off the bloom head and watch for a few days. Sometimes the bare stem will die back to the point where the plant would prefer that you cut. Spiderwort, the plant keeps adding more blooms daily but require no deadheading daily. When they finally slow down, midsummer, I cut the whole stalk back to the ground and the plant puts up a new stalk. I deadhead daylilies daily because I hate the look of yesterday's 'soggy socks' hanging off the stem with next day's bloom and buds. Roses, there used to be this iron-clad rule that you cut back to just above a 5-leaflet at a certain angle. Lately, some experts decided that deadheading just the bloom makes a faster rebloom. Some things, like melampodium, do not require deadheading, they drop seed and the old blossom just falls off. Nell

I don't think I have any Black Beauty lilies, that sounds like one I would notice. I am really bad with the lillies. I will buy a bag of something that catches my eye and then after I plant them , I just toss the bag and never mark them. So I don't know what particular one any of my bulb lillies are and don't really care. I know I will buy more and I know I will not mark them. I just want the lanscape color and the glorious scent that comes with lillies. All the lillies added above are gorgeous. Here bulb lillies are really easy, just plant it and forget it they just come up year after year. Here is one that started blooming yesterday that smells divine.

Leave the lily stem until they die back in late fall. You can deadhead the lily but cutting the pedicels off (the small flower stalks which holds the flower to the main stem) to avoid having the lily spent energy on producing seeds. But let the main flower stem stay. Continue to water and fertilize. In late fall, after the stem is brown you can cut it back to the ground, but not before.

Deadhead the spent flower. E.g. cut the small pedicel (miniature stalk which holds the flower to the stem) off but let the main flower stem (with leaves) stay. This flower stem is needed to conduct photosynthesis and recharge the plant for next year. Fertilize now if you have not already done so. I am sorry that I don't have a picture with spent flowers, so I used a lilly in full bloom. Obviously you should not cut flowers/buds off before they mature (wither and die), but the picture below will show you where to cut approximately.