How to Deadhead Carnations

Overview

Carnations come in a variety of colors and sizes that add brightness to your garden beds, containers and edging. It's possible to keep your carnations blooming all summer depending on the variety and if you remember to deadhead them. Deadheading is the process of removing spent blooms before they go to seed. After a carnation goes to seed, it focuses its energy on developing seeds instead of flowers. Stopping this process encourages the flowers to set new flowers so it can start making seeds again.

Step 1

Snip off all brown, dead or diseased looking leaves from the flower stems. Snip them off with your garden scissors where the leaf joins the stem.

Step 2

Study each flower. Snip off those that are spent or are beginning to turn brown and shriveled around the edges. Snip the flower off ¼ inch above the nearest set of leaves.

Step 3

Look for any seed heads that have begun to form. Snip them off ¼ inch above the nearest leaf set.

Step 4

Cut off any stems that already have most of their leaves removed due to wilting and browning. Snip the stem off above the last set of healthy leaves. This encourages the carnation to concentrate on putting on a new bloom at that stem instead of growing new leaves.