What Are The Rules On Dead Heading?

[Stargazer]

I know to do daffodils but what abiout the following. Mini iris, snowdrops, crocus, tulips, bluebells, lily of the valley. violets. primroses, aconites. Is it just that you only need to do it if they are from bulbs?

[paddywak]

It doesn't hurt to dead head plants,in fact it is beneficial to most plants my patio rose for instance bloom through most of the summer with a bit of careful dead heading.An exception is hydrangeas which are usually left till spring.

[jno]

just been out doing hydrangeas today.

[follyfancier]

I don,t do anything that is a native such as snowdrops or bluebells , nobody goes through the woods dead heading in there do they

[woofgang]

mini iris aren't worth doing, you usually only get one year out of them anyway. Snowdrops multiply via seed and bulbs so leave alone crocus don't seem to set seed for me so leave alone. The showy kind of tulips are worth doing so as to put strength into the bulb for next year, leave the species kind (small and early) alone. Lily of the valley spread by seed, leave alone, ditto violets ditto primroses, although you can keep primulas (bright colours showy flowers) in flower longer by deadheading if you want to. Apart from tulips and daffs, more important than deadheading is to leave the leaves to die down naturally so as to feed the bulb, tuber or root for next year, a little plant food after flowering doesn't go amiss either.

[Buenchico]

From the RHS website:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=129

[Stargazer]

Thank you for all the advice. Have I got this right. My tulips are the very small ones Pinnochio and Hearts Delight. So do I not dead head them? Also my mini iris have come out for the second year. Would it not be good to dead head them as I only have about four plants and will they spread? My snowdrops are lovely in woodland but only a small amount. I usually dead head these as I thought that would make them spread. However, you say they seed - so are they not in fact bulbs. I have never pulled any up to see what is at the bottom.

[Buenchico]

A hint for finding gardening advice: Simply enter 'RHS', together with a key word (such as 'snowdrops'), into Google. Then you'll find things like "Simply allow the foliage to die back naturally":
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=703

[Dizmo]

Chris: Good link :) I'm a RHS member.