Spend more time enjoying the garden and less time pruning with these low-maintenance flowering plants.
Ralph Lee Anderson
Savvy gardeners know that deadheading spent blooms keepsannualsand manyperennialplants looking their best week after week.
But not all plants require deadheading.
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These plants keep on blooming even when you dont remove the old flowers.
Some plants perform best when spent blooms are left in place.
Many annuals and perennials reseed in the garden, replacing themselves or slowly spreading to cover more ground.
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Leaving the faded flowers on these plants will ensure seeds develop to nurture the next generation of blooms.
Then there are plants that continue to shine even as their blossoms fade.
They may produce gorgeous seed heads like sedums, or dry in place like hydrangeas.
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Here are a few plants that you need not bother deadheading.
The two-lipped flowers resemble snapdragons and are self-cleaning, providing months of blooms with little work.
Perfect for containers or massing in sunny beds and borders.
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Columbine
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This woodland wildflower is adored for its unique blooms.
The tubular red and yellow flowers are a favorite of hummingbirds, providing an early source of nectar.
Columbine reseeds readily in the garden, with new plants blooming in their second year.
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Naturalize columbine in woodland or native gardens and plant as a lush ground layer in shady borders.
Hydrangeas
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Mosthydrangeasdo not require deadheading and will not rebloom if you remove spent blooms.
Reblooming varieties should be deadheaded after the initial spring or early summer bloom.
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The Supertunia petunias make this tiresome chore a thing of the past.
The vibrant flowers are adored by butterflies and other pollinators and last for several weeks in the garden.
The seed heads are as dramatic as the blooms, if not more so.
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This plant is a prolific self-sower, another reason to leave those stunning seedpods standing.
Bidens
Bidens are robust plants, producing flush upon flush of cheerful yellow or orange blooms.
Bidens self-sow under good growing conditions, however hybrid varieties will not return true to key in.
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Baptisia
Baptisia are tough prairie plants with a graceful appearance and showy blooms.
Flowers are followed by inflated seed pods that turn black as they ripen and dry.
Stems holding seed pods are popular for dried flower arrangements.
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Watch for birds feeding on the seed heads in autumn.
To maintain a persistent patch of foxgloves, avoid deadheading and allow plants to set seed after flowering.
Flowering in almost every color of the rainbow, the bright bloomsattract hummingbirdsto the garden.
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Hollyhock
Hollyhocks tower over perennial beds and borders, adding cottage charm to any planting.
They reseed readily in the garden for a continuous stand of cheery blooms.
Sow seeds two years in a row and youll have plants flowering every season.
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As such, there is no need for deadheading spent blooms.
The old flowers give way to long, thin seedpods that add texture and interest to the blooms.
With the exception of newer sterile cultivars, cleomes readily reseed in the garden.
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Plants are self-cleaning, producing an endless supply of vibrant blooms.
Flowers close at night and on cloudy days, opening again come morning.
As such, there is no need to deadhead spent blooms.
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