Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Saturday - July 28, 2012
From: Georgetown, DE
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Non-Natives, Plant Identification, Cacti and Succulents
Title: Removing faded flowers from plants in Georgetown, DE
Answered by: Jimmy Mills
QUESTION:
I bought a chamase rose quartz that was in bloom. now the buds are dead, should i remove them or just leave them on the plant. they wont just fall off. and the tips of the plant has new growth.ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants can’t find a plant by that name in our Native Plant Data Base which indicates that it is a non-native, and therefore out of our area of focus. Searching for the name on Goggle brings up some interesting things, but the closest plant name was Chamaelobivia ‘Rose Quartz’ .
Your question is about removing the flower bud after the bloom has faded. This is a practice that is known as deadheading, and is commonly used by gardeners on various types of plants. Removing the spent flower allows the plant to redirect the energy and resources that it would use for making a seed head toward plant growth and perhaps the production of more flowers.
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