Deadheading day lilies

Day lilies are aptly named for their ephemeral flower. I became all too aware of this upon my return home. When I left 10 days ago, there were just buds. When I returned, there were hundreds of flowers in bloom and even more that were spent.

Time to dead-head.

It’s important to do this for a couple of reasons. First, it tidies up the plant creating a better aesthetic. Second, dead-heading removes weight from a pendulous stalk, letting the plant bounce back up. And third, it redirects energy back into the plant encouraging more flowers and not the formation of seeds.

So as Juana and Olivia sit and paint some birdhouses we have purchased, I am hovering over the mass of spent blooms with my trusty Felco. Snip, snip, snip. I prefer this to hand pinching as my fingers are too big for this delicate task and the blooms tend to be very mushy, leaving a orange-green patina all over my hands.

It takes about 30 minutes and Juana reminds me that I have missed a few. I always do. But no worries, the myriad of today’s flowers will be tomorrow’s spent blooms that will need to be dead-headed.