I’ve been a consumer for a long time. A long time. Yet I still fall prey to smart marketing that sells me the wrong thing. Hard to believe? Its true, and I bet you do it too.
Take annuals for example. As someone who has run garden club plant sales, I know that trays of annuals in bloom sell better than those that aren’t in bloom. Put two trays of annuals on the sales rack and inevitably, the one in bloom will sell faster. The one that is just green may not sell at all.
Which takes us back to me being a consumer. I buy the annuals that are in bloom, even though I know the plant has spent precious energy on buds, energy that could have gone towards building strong root systems. I’ve heard that topping the plants helps redirect the plant’s attention to the roots. But is that true? I posted the question at About.com’s gardening forum, and got these responses:
ScottyBlue, the moderator at the forum said..
Many annuals are tropical plants and as such they grow vigorously. So buying them in bloom is not that big of a deal but it’s still better to get ones with just flower buds. It takes a whole lot of energy for a plant to produce blooms/seeds. It’s like when you women are pregnant. Eating for two kind of thing.
Don’t bother cutting the flowers. It already spent the energy making those flowers. You only cut/pinch them if it’s a flower that will seed. Seeding takes a tremendous amount of energy/food out of the plant. Many annuals have been hybridized so much that they no longer seed.
Flower_lady had this to say…
Deadheading the spent flower is what most people do with their annuals, I don’t think much else is needed. Just go nip the spent flowers off, they will be happy little guys and gals.
Pinching will help to bush out most perennials. Pinching is done before the blooms, like on the mum plants.
I’m told its going to stop raining in Chicagoland today, with a high of 91. So come on sun, rise! I want to get outside to deadhead my annuals and to pinch my mums. I know I’ll only deadhead the annuals once in a while over the summer, but my intentions are good. I also plan to pinch my mums today and once more before the 4th of July. This will give them time to get bushy this spring/summer and flower-full this fall.
I will also make a conscious effort next year to follow Scotty’s advice to buy the plants that are not yet in bloom. I will be a smart consumer. I will. I will.
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