Any green thumbs out there? Gardening question

[dutchgirl]

Specifically, my question is about what to do once a plant has stopped blooming? I live in a condominium and recently planted several containers with flowers. In one container I put snapdragons. The stalks bloomed and were beautiful and then the flowers started withering and falling off which I assume is part of a natural, cycle of bloom, process. So I cut the stalks down near the base of the plant. Is this correct? Should I pull the stalk out completely? I don't even know if this is correct as snapdragons, while growing like individual stalks, these stalks are all the same plant. As you can tell I have no green thumb in me and my Western Gardening book is vague on what to do. Green thumbs, please help me out!!! I don't want to inadvertently kill my new patio garden

Thanks,
Sabine

 

[bethmeira]

I am no green thumb by any means, but I have learned a little here and there. Where do you live? If you live a mild climate then snapdragons should be perenials and they will bloom again next year. I treat snapdragons as annuals and once they stop blooming, I pull them out and plant a new one in its place that will bloom for that season. I think by cutting it, it should bloom again, but you'll have to wait another 9-10 months or so. Can you wait that long? If not buy more annuals. They should be under $2 a 6 pack.

Beth

 

[Lindaton]

The HGTV site has a forum for gardening. There are a lot of very knowledgable{sp] gardeners on there that answer questions quickly. I've been into gardening for about 5 yrs and spend my whole summer watering, pinching, repotting etc. I've still so much to learn. I've not planted any snapdragons[just about every thing else]so I can't answer your question. But like I said I'm sure HGTV forums can. Hope this helps.
Linda

 

[hopefull]

I've heard people say that snapdragons are perennials in mild climates, but I think this is only because they easily reseed themselves, and will volunteer the next year. They are kind of like pansies. They like cooler weather so don't bloom as well when it gets hot. You can keep flowers blooming longer and more by deadheading them frequently. This means you pinch the bloom off when it starts to fade. I have a mininture rose bush that I have been faithfully deadheading all summer. Even through the hot weather it has continued to produce incredible blooms. I also recently cut back my petunias because they were getting leggy and weren't blooming well. They looked terrible for about two weeks than came back better than ever. I really think you can get a whole summer out of snapdragons the same way. I would check for the proper way to dead head them first. My experience with them is that they are pretty hardy and kind of take care of themselves. They will look sad in the dead of summer then gain strength when the weather cools and put on a pretty show again. Linda's suggestion should get you some really good specifics. Have fun. I love flowers, somedays I count a whole day of messing in my flower garden as my workout. Oh ya, using a fertilizer like Miracle Grow or Osmocot will help produce lots of blooms. Look for fertilizers where the middle number is the largest.