Lilies are one of the stars of any flower lover’s midsummer garden. But what should you do once those blooms begin to fade? Like many popular garden flowers, lilies benefit from deadheading—but maybe not for the reason you think.

Here’s why you should make a point to deadhead your lilies this growing season.

Should You Deadhead Lilies?

Lilies benefit from deadheading for a couple of different reasons. In addition to tidying up the appearance of your garden after its blooms have faded, snipping away the spent flower heads is important for next year’s growth.

Leaving the flowers on the plant will allow them to go to seed if the flowers have been pollinated. Instead of storing up energy in their bulbs for next year’s flowers, your lily plants will expend that energy producing seeds.

Removing the flowering portions of each stem once they fade means you’ll have stronger, more vibrant flowers next year than if you let the plants go to seed.

Note that, unlike flowers such as marigolds and zinnias, deadheading true lilies, including Asiatic lilies and Easter lilies, won’t encourage the plants to rebloom this year.

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How to Deadhead Lilies

Look for lily stems with flowers that have faded or are beginning to fade, discolor, or drop off. Keep an eye out for flowers in which the petals and stamens have fallen away completely.

Only the stigma, the structure in the center of the flower that collects pollen to send down to the ovary in the base of the flower to form seeds, may remain. If your lily flowers have already bloomed, you may also see only long green seed pods where the flowers once were.

You can deadhead a single lily flower out of many on a stem or, once all blooms have faded, cut back the entire flowering portion of that stem. To remove a single flower, use clean, sharp scissors or pruners to cut the flower stem where it meets the main stem.

If all flowers on the stem have faded and begun going to seed, you can make your cut at the bottom of the flowering portion of the main stem—below the lowest flower stem but above any leaves.

Once your lily flowers begin to fade, check them every few days to deadhead individual blooms as needed. You can also choose to wait until all flowers on a single stem are spent and remove the flowering portion of the spike all at once.

What to Do With Deadheaded Blooms

As long as they don’t show signs of pests or disease, lilies can be added to your compost pile. They can also be thrown in the trash. If your lilies do become diseased or infested, it’s best to tie them up in a plastic bag before tossing them to prevent any spread.

You may also decide to skip deadheading altogether and leave the seed pods on the plant, though it may not grow as vigorously the next year.

In fact, some types of lilies are known for their visually striking seed pods, which can add interest to the garden in the off-season if they’re left on the plant.

For example, blackberry lilies get their name from the distinctive shiny black seeds left behind after the flowers bloom.