Deadheading Dragons

I purchased both white and red snapdragons this year for the white, black and red bed. After dutifully planting them in a sporadic grouping, I was rewarded the next morning by all plants being nibbled down to bare remnants. Blast! I was not a happy, fledgling gardener. After writing the plants off as having to be replaced, I was pleasantly surprised when they bounced back without any aid from me. The snapdragons went on throughout the spring to become huge and beautiful.

This past week seems to be the end of the blooms. I have never raised snapdragons, so I consulted The Internets to see if I should bother to dead head them. Apparently, if the blooms are deadheaded and the weather is cool enough, the snapdragons may give another round of blooms. As always, there were varying opinions on how to take care of the plant after it blooms. Some gardeners will snip of the blooms from where they join the stalk as the blooms fade. Snapdragons are much like hollyhocks in so far as they bloom from bottom of stalk to top. Other gardeners wait until the majority of the blooms fall from the stalk and then clip the stalk just below the lowest seed head and just above the first set of leaves. Since most of the blooms are already gone, tonight I tried the second method. We'll see what happens.