Aloha, you are asking at a time when deadheading has reached critical stages for some of us! I do NOT have an answer about an easy way! If there is one, I certainly haven't found it!

Okay, I hauled all the columbine, peonies, etc. off to the dump, a couple of weeks ago. The 1st round of the spent tea rose blooms went, too. A couple of days ago, I trimmed the rambling rose that grows on an arbor. Didn't finish, it was too hot there was a meeting I had to get to but I left a pile of about half of it.

You know how some people lay down a tarp and run their mower over stuff like that? I tried it. I had rose branches AAAALLL over the yard!! Shoot! The breeze from the mower lifted the tarp - I doubt if I got half the chopped stuff. It went in the compost but, fortunately, grass mowing was due so I just made some extra passes to try to completely pulverize the scattered material. I don't even know if I have a catcher for that mower but, fortunately, no one around here goes barefoot on the lawn! It won't be safe for anything but hard-soled shoes for another year!

Steve

I think it depends on what you're deadheading, Aloha. Most things I'm deadheading need to be done one stem at a time, like with shasta daisies each stem gets cut right above where the next flower is developing and that's at a different place on each stem. If they were all cut at the same height I'd be cutting buds off of some of the stems and leaving ratty dying stems in other places. Same thing with coreopsis, dianthus, and a lot of other things.

With something like 'May Night' Salvia I cut the whole plant down to the ground so I can get another "primary" bloom rather than the smaller flowers that come with a secondary bloom if I only cut it back partway. But with something like that cutting the stems off at the base doesn't really make a mess so I just throw them all on a pile and when I'm done I cut them up a little bit with the scissors before throwing them on the compost pile so they'll decompose more quickly.

But when I'm cutting plants all the way down in the fall/winter/spring I usually pull an old sheet or two as close as I can around the bottom of the plants and then just chop away! Picking all that mess up off of the mulch would take forever--especially when I'm cutting the Panicum ornamental grass down which makes a REAL mess!

When I'm trimming bushes like the junipers I cover as much as I can with sheets (use the same ones I do for frost protection) and then throw the clippings on the sheets till there's "too much" and then just take it to the dumpster and stick the "open" part in first and shake it off as I pull the sheet back out of the dumpster. I do that when I'm trimming the upright junipers too--but have to be pretty careful to not walk on the perennials growing under the trees too much when they're covered by the sheets!

For pruning the few roses I have I just throw the stuff I'm cutting off into a nursery-size (a/k/a BIG) pot and dump it in the dumpster--nothing that bites goes on my compost pile!

Last week I cut all the lavenders I now have down (all the way--also to get another primary bloom as opposed to a lesser secondary bloom) and for that I just keep that "big pot" next to me and throw the handfuls of trash in the pot and it goes in the dumpster--takes too long to decompose on the compost pile (I had a half a dumpster of clippings and I have a VERY good smelling dumpster right now!)

So anything that's gonna make a "big mess" I do use the Sheet System, but for cutting things that can be easily thrown in a tray/pot or on a pile and cleaned up I don't bother putting anything down.

Not sure if that helps!

Skybird

Digit, I don't even have the option to run mine over with a lawn mower and it sounds like that might be a good thing considering what could happen. We use a manual lawn mower and the slightest stick, mulch etc will stop it dead in it's tracks.

Skybird that was very helpful! I was thinking of a tarp but the sheet idea is MUCH better since it's soft and pliable.

You did raise additional questions though for me. Which perennials (or which types) in general like to be cut way down. I have the May Night and I cut off each spent bloom. Granted this is the 1st year it's been in so it's not a huge plant yet and not as much to do. I whacked the 1st 3 inches or so off my yarrow and it is starting to rebloom fairly well. Would whacking to within 6" or so of the ground been better? I was looking to trim down my catmint around July 4th but with guests coming I decided it was best to wait till just afterwards (which ended up being 2 days ago) to enjoy the blooms that were still there. How far down should I whack that down? Is there a book you can recommend so I can look up optimum pruning of the various types of perennials?

I've decided with the various plants I have (and will be getting more), I need to make a month to month report so I can make sure I maximize the blooms and keep things tidy. My greatest fear of gardening is the neighbor down the street whose yard looks horrible because of his not keeping it up.

This year we have been planting a lot which has been fun. I'm hoping to be near "completion" by next year. I'm trying my best to propagate items. I bought 1 Autumn Joy last year and so far, I've made about 25 new plants (figure I might as well start with the easiest ones to do). I managed to root 2 Weigela too.

My new propagated Daphne isn't going to make it I don't think. The original plant I splurged and bought in the spring so far is doing wonderful. I bought a huge one from O'Tooles for 25% off. I succumbed to getting the bigger one since not only was it larger but it was much denser then the smaller ones. I almost never buy such large plants since they have a more difficult time adjusting but it does look great now! I've pampered it a lot and have it in a the prized area in my planting bed next to the front door. It gets sun until noonish and very little wind ever. I read so much about how these plants can just all of a sudden die for no apparent reason. I guess I'll just enjoy it while it's here.

I generally just leave the residue from pruning/dead heading on the ground by the plants, even when cutting stuff way back to the ground in the spring. Maybe break it up by hand a bit so if flattens down. It adds to the mulch, it decomposes surprisingly quickly. I don't have any problem with diseases.

The exception is roses - too many thorns that surprise you later and, what ever rose disease I have - black stems in the spring - seems to move easily between plants. So I haul all that off.

A lot of it is just a matter of trying different things, Aloha, with the different types of plants, until you find out how you like doing each one. And with some of the plants timing can be a factor. For instance, I really prefer to cut the 'May Night' all the way down and wait for that second primary bloom, but, if I wait too long to cut it down and the secondary flowers are already obviously growing, I just can't stand to cut them off so I deadhead down to just above the developing spikes and let it go with the secondary bloom, even tho I know the flowers will be smaller and less showy. This year a made sure I cut it down before the secondary spikes were forming--and before the very last of the original flowers were done, so I wouldn't "be all conflicted" about cutting off "good buds!" [Gardening is a very complicated thing! :-D]

Spike Veronica is similar to the Salvias, but the years I cut that all the way down it didn't have time to come back for another good show--AND the secondary blooms are already usually well developed before the primary flowers are done, so I usually just deadhead the individual flowers when they get ratty and let the secondary--and thirdary!--flowers develop even tho they get smaller and smaller! So I never get that spectacular primary bloom again, but at least I do have some color out there most of the summer!

I've also tried "both ways" with things like shasta daisy, coreopsis, and the larger flowered dianthus, and generally found there isn't time for them to come back and fully bloom again, so now I just deadhead flowers as they die and allow the secondary buds to develop. That's true for purple coneflower and Rudbeckia too.

For one-time blooming things like daylilies and iris I snip/break off individual flowers as they finish, and then cut the stems all the way down to the bottom when all the flowers are done.

True lilies maintain their foliage all summer so when they're done blooming I cut the flower stem part and a couple of the leaves down to a place where I think it looks good--but since they're bulbs you need to leave most of the foliage on to recharge them for the following year.

For one-time blooming Penstemon, like P. strictus, I just wait till they're done and cut the flower stems all the way down to the ground. Then they start to develop new shoots that will bloom the following year.

With late blooming things--Agastache, Russian Sage, upright sedums, etc.--you obviously don't do anything to them until you cut them down for the year, whenever you do that.

And most folks around here already know I'm big-time into cutting groundcovers down--especially the groundcover sedums. I generally cut them down to the ground when they finish blooming, which generally gives them time to develop a nice compact, good looking "mat" for over winter. A couple times I got them cut back too late and there was virtually nothing there over winter--and I missed them! Since most of the ones I have are evergreen they're one of the things I can still look at over winter.

And after it's done blooming I even shear my Ajuga off down to the ground! That gets it pretty new foliage for the rest of the summer. And sometimes, since it's only semi-evergreen and can look really bad by late winter, I cut it down BEFORE it blooms, but you need to be sure to get that done before it starts to bud or you cut the "flowers" off!

And I LOVE 'Waterperry' Veronica, and after the initial bloom it WILL keep blooming some with secondary flowers over the rest of the summer, but it keeps getting "taller" and really pretty ratty looking by the middle of summer if you do it that way, so I sheared mine off down to the ground about a month ago and it's coming back very nicely now and should bloom all over again--probably right about the time I'll be gone on vacation!!! You do need to get used to the idea that these things will be bare looking for a couple weeks after you cut them down, but for me that's better than having them looking bad for most of the summer--and as long as you have a good variety of perennials there's always something else to look at and, for me at least, I don't really notice the "missing stuff" all that much! I just chopped my Turkish Veronica off a little over a week ago so it's in the Missing Stuff category right now! Will be back and lookin' good for over winter!

I don't do yarrow--it falls into the Who's Afraid of Virginia Creeper category for me!--so I don't have any recommendations for that stuff! (Well, I do have a recommendation, but it wouldn't fall into the deadheading category!!!)

And if you're going to cut your catmint "down" now, I'd cut that stuff down to the ground--no more than a couple inches--and I'd go with about an inch! The lower foliage on that stuff usually gets pretty bad looking and if you cut it all the way down it'll start all over and should look good again.

If you want to keep your perennials looking as good as possible, here are a couple basic "rules!" When deadheading cut the old stems as far down as you can without cutting off good flowers or buds. If you leave part of the old stem on the plant (a/k//a just cut off the flower itself and leave the stem on the plant) that stem is "done with its useful life" and will turn brown and look awful so you'll wind up either going back a second time to cut it off--or the plant will just stay awful looking with the dead, brown stems on it! If you're going to cut them "all the way down" make it no more than a couple inches above the ground--or accept the fact that whatever you do leave is going to die and be visible for the rest of the year! Also, if you don't cut them down all the way, some plants will develop new shoots from whatever is left of the old stem--but the "old" part of the stem will still look ratty even tho the new growth on top will look good!

When I was at Paulino's we had to keep the display gardens cleaned up and one of the girls always cut things down to about a foot, and I always had to bite my tongue and just deal with the ugly 12" on the bottom of the plants when they grew back! It was quite a "display," IMO! Now I'm "working" in my own yard--and I do it the way I like it! I enjoy deadheading perennials, and for the most part it's one of the easier things to do and I can just go out and quietly sit and snip things off and toss them in my tray or pot! For me it's a nice quiet way to spend an hour in the evening, and if you do it every few days or at least a couple times a week there's never any Big Job since you're doing it a little at a time.

As with most gardening, there's no "right answer!" Try different ways and decide what works best for you! And, as you mentioned, keeping some notes, at least for the first few years you're "trying things" can be very helpful!

RE your concern that your yard is going to look like your "neighbor down the street"--I somehow suspect that's NOT gonna happen!

And regarding your Daphne! Yes! Enjoy it while it's there!

Skybird

P.S. The way you do it might work for you Landed Folks who live out in the country, David, but for us poor folks who live on average--or smaller than average--residential lots, that just might wind up looking like Aloha's Neighbor Down the Street!