From my perspective as a Black-eyed Susan, I am a perennial plant, meaning my roots survive the winter to send up new growth each spring. My blooming strategy is tied to my reproductive goal: to produce as many flowers as possible to create seeds and ensure the next generation. My energy is a finite resource. If I am allowed to form seeds, I will direct all my power into maturing those seeds, which signals the end of my flowering show for the season. Your intervention through pruning and deadheading directly manipulates this cycle, convincing me to try again and again to produce blooms instead of seeds.
To you, these might be similar gardening tasks, but to me, they are distinct signals with different outcomes. Deadheading is the selective removal of my spent, fading flowers. This is a precise tactic. Pruning, often called "cutting back," is a more dramatic event where you remove larger sections of my stems, often by up to one-third or even half of my height. This is typically done later in the season or in early spring to manage my shape and density. Both actions are a form of communication that tells me to redirect my energy from one task to another, ultimately favoring more floral production.
When one of my bright yellow or orange petals begins to wither and brown, the clock is ticking. Before the base of the flower (the ovary) swells and begins forming seeds, I would appreciate your help. Please locate the first set of full, healthy leaves beneath the spent flower bud. Using clean, sharp pruners or your fingertips, make a clean cut or snap the stem just above these leaves. This precise action does two wonderful things for me: it prevents me from wasting energy on seed production, and it neatly removes a potential entry point for disease. I will interpret this as a sign that my first attempt at reproduction failed, and I will quickly channel my energy into producing new side shoots and flower buds from the leaf nodes below the cut.
If you notice me becoming a bit leggy—with long stems and fewer flowers—by early to mid-summer, a more significant prune can work wonders. This involves cutting back a portion of my healthy stems by one-third to one-half their height. While this may seem drastic, it is incredibly beneficial from my point of view. It encourages me to branch out vigorously from the base, resulting in a denser, bushier form. This new growth will be topped with a tremendous flush of blooms that will appear several weeks after the cut, often rejuvenating my display just as the first wave of flowers is fading. It also improves air circulation through my foliage, helping to keep me healthy.
As autumn arrives and my final blooms fade, you might be tempted to deadhead me again. However, at this point, I am preparing for dormancy. Allowing my last flowers to develop into seed heads is actually crucial. The seeds provide vital food for birds during the lean winter months, and the stiff, standing stems offer shelter for beneficial overwintering insects. Furthermore, the remaining foliage will help protect my crown through the winter. The best practice is to leave me standing until early spring. Once the worst of the frost has passed and you see new green growth emerging from my base, you can then prune all of my old stems down to about 2-4 inches above the ground, clearing the way for my robust new spring growth.
