Encouraging Continuous Blooms in the Garden

How to encourage continuous blooms in the garden:

Most flowering annuals bloom all summer long, allowing your gardens to stay colorful all season long. Sometimes flowers leave behind spent blooms, leaving a less than appealing sight. Deadheading is a process that will help keep your flowers blooming and looking nice until frost season hits. Deadheading is a term used to represent the removal of faded or gone-by blossoms from plants. Deadheading is done to help maintain the appearance of plants, but also to improve their longevity and health. Regular deadheading (1-2 times a week) encourages the plants to put their energy into creating continuous growth and more blooms.  

Deadheading is a simple task, that only requires you to pinch or cut off the flower stem below the spent bloom, and just above the newest set of healthy leaves. Repeat this as needed throughout the growing season, once blooms have gone by. All you need are your hands to deadhead, or scissors if you prefer. By deadheading flowers and incorporating a fertilizer of your choice with proper watering, your flowers will last all season long and be beautiful well into the early fall.