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Aquilegia deadheading

Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
in Plants
If I deadhead my Aquilegias will I get a second flush of flowers?  It’s just occurred to me that I have never thought about deadheading them ditto Welsh poppies
 If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham

Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    I usually leave the aquilegias to seed around as I have a mix of varieties and almost any variation of colour or shape can appear. In 2021 however the gold finches (I believe) emptied every single seedpod leaving none for me! The plants have made up for it with this years display though :)
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Not on Aquilegias,  but if you leave them they will self seed. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I deadhead as much as possible, because even the seed from one flower can create huge numbers of new plants. If you deadhead, they do throw up new spikes, but I don't get a 2nd flush, and they'd probably produce some new spikes anyway as the plant carries on growing, whether I deadhead or not.
    I religiously deadhead the Welsh poppies, but they're easy to pull out if I miss them, and they get carried away. Literally  :)

    I've seen some nice aquilegias when I've been out walking round here, so I've got some bags in my little pouch to collect seed when they're ready. Most of them are outwith the gardens they're actually growing in, in nearby lanes etc, so I'm not taking anything directly from anyone's garden. No trespassing by me  ;)
    The weirdest one was when I was on my way to a hill last week. Along the forestry road there was a small area the lorries use for parking/turning etc, and there was a large clump of a dark blue one. There are no houses/garden, apart from one, which is a good few hundred yards away, as it's in the middle of nowhere.  :)
    Unfortunately- still fully in flower so no available seed heads...
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I think I’m quite happy to let them carry on self seeding then. They do move around but not dramatically, certainly not self seeding thugs like some of my other plants 🙂
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    When they're brown and dry give them a good shake and then you can cut off the heads of you want to.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I always scatter the seed once they’re ripe but was suddenly wondering if I was missing a second flush. Glad to find out that my lazy approach is probably the best 🙂
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
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