Dwayne wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message
...
I have a lot of peonies and when the petals fall I am wondering if
I
should cut off the seed head.

Can someone advise me on this please ?

Mike, I don't know the answer, but my brother is a fanatic about
cutting off the flowers as they die. I do it also, I toss the
iris,
rose, peony, etc. blooms back into the garden after they aren't
pretty anymore. Vie been told that it encourages the plant to
bloom,
but mostly if makes the plants look better if the old flower is
removed. Plus, I am returning the nutrients back to the flower bed
by throwing them back. If the plant is diseased, I don't throw it
back, but burn it.

Better to compost any plant remains before putting them back, though
a few petals won't harbour slugs. I don't think dead-heading
perennials which can flower only once a year, such as peonies,
usually affects flowering performance -- but it matters with bulbs,
of course. Some seed-heads look good, though: you should certainly
let the hips grow on once-flowering roses; and browned-off flower
spikes are sometimes part of the charm.

--
Mike.