Why Deadheading Coneflower Is Beneficial: And How to Do It While Supporting Wildlife

Deadheading Echinacea (Coneflower)

Welcome to This Month in the Garden! Coneflowers (Echinacea) are beloved in gardens for their vibrant daisy-like blooms, drought tolerance, and value to pollinators. As mid- to late-summer bloomers, they bring long-lasting color to flower beds and naturalized plantings. One common question among gardeners is whether to deadhead these striking flowers. The answer depends on your goals, but when done thoughtfully, deadheading can both extend blooming and benefit wildlife.

Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'

What Is Deadheading? Deadheading is the process of removing spent flowers from a plant before they can set seed. In many flowering species, this encourages the plant to put energy into producing new blooms rather than seeds. For perennials like coneflowers, it can result in a longer flowering period and a tidier appearance. 

The Benefits of Deadheading Coneflower: Deadheading encourages more blooms. When you remove fading blooms, the plant often responds by producing additional flowers, extending the colorful display into late summer or even early fall. This also promotes plant health by helping to prevent fungal diseases by improving air circulation around the plant and removing decaying material that could harbor pests. While promoting good health, deadheading also improves garden appearance. Removing brown or dried flower heads can give your garden a neater, more maintained look, especially in formal beds or highly visible areas.

Echinacea Pow Wow 'Wild Berry'

The Benefits of Deadheading Coneflower While Supporting Wildlife: Coneflowers are especially valuable to birds like goldfinches, who feast on the seeds of mature flower heads in late summer and fall. If you deadhead all the spent blooms, you may deprive local birds of this important food source. Instead of removing every faded bloom, try a selective deadheading strategy. Deadhead early in the season (July–August) to encourage more flowers. Use clean sharp scissors to remove spent flowers that have faded colors and dried out petals. Deadheading every 5-8 days during the period of peak blooming can help to keep the plant flowering consistently. Avoid cutting into new buds if you want flowers next blooming season. Leave healthy flower buds alone and allow them to develop at their own pace. Some amount of basal foliage and seed heads can also stay. Cutting too much of your coneflowers at once can worsen deadheading results and put your plants at great risk. Stop deadheading by late August so the final round of blooms can go to seed. Leave some spent flowers on the plant throughout fall and winter for seed-eating birds. This approach strikes the perfect balance between aesthetics, extended blooming, and wildlife support.

Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'

How to Properly Deadhead Coneflower: Deadheading coneflowers is simple and can be done with garden snips or pruners. Locate the Spent Bloom and look for flowers that are fading, browning, or drying up. Follow the stem down to where it joins a set of leaves or a side bud. Make a clean cut using clean pruners or scissors to cut just above a healthy leaf node or side bud. This encourages new shoots and blooms from that node. If you are removing seed heads early in the season, save them for growing new plants, feeding the birds or compost them. When it becomes later in the season, leave them on the plant for birds. 

Echinacea Pow Wow 'White'

Bonus Tip-Winter Interest: Leaving some seed heads on your coneflowers not only helps birds but also adds texture and visual interest to the winter garden. The spiky, dark cones can look striking against frost or snow. 

I hope you enjoyed This Month in the Garden and have found the information to be useful. Deadheading coneflowers can be a powerful tool to encourage prolonged blooming and keep your garden looking vibrant. But it’s also an opportunity to support wildlife. By deadheading selectively and removing some blooms while allowing others to go to seed, you create a garden that’s both beautiful and beneficial to birds. Let your garden serve multiple roles, an outdoor haven for you, a buffet for pollinators, and a sanctuary for birds.

Looking for some Garden Inspiration? Check Out My Books:

A Guide to Northeastern Gardening: Journeys of a Garden Designer Zones 3-9

Landscape Design Combinations  

Dream, Garden, Grow!-Musings of a Lifetime Gardener

Gardening by Month: A Monthly Guide to Planning the Northeastern & Mid-Atlantic Garden

Shade Gardening for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

The Houseplant Guide: How to Easily Select & Maintain Indoor Plants

As Always...Happy Gardening!

Author: Lee @A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, © Copyright 2010-2025. All rights reserved.