Petunias are a popular plant for adding some colour to your garden, and in spring, they are full of energy and life. But, come summer, their flowering cycle can begin to slow down, and in a couple of months, they may be barely blooming at all. However, you can extend their lifespan further by completing one simple task.
The experts at This Is My Garden have highlighted deadheading as one gardening task that can often be forgotten. This is the process of removing dying or dead blooms from a plant, and is a super-easy task when taking care of your garden, and one that should be done this month to ensure your petunias continue to flower for the rest of summer.
Petunias use a huge amount of energy to grow their flowers, meaning they can quickly deplete their soil of nutrients. While fertilising can help counter this, energy will continue to be sent to dead and dying blooms, long after they’ve passed their peak.
This means that deadheading is particularly important for these flowers, as once the decaying flower has been removed, energy will stop being sent to this part of the plant, and can be exerted elsewhere instead.
Sharing some tips for deadheading your petunias, the experts start: “One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make when deadheading petunias is to only pull the flower off.
“Petunia blooms are extremely delicate. Because of this, they pull off easily from the stem, especially when dying off.”
However, behind this flower, there will be a tiny bulbous seed head, which should also be pruned back, or the plant will continue to send the energy to this seed.
They finish: “By removing the flower, seed head and even a small portion of the stem back to a fresh set of leaves, you effectively stop all nutrients from being spent on the old bloom.”