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Garden Maintenance - Pinching, Deadheading and Cutting Back

By Marie Iannotti, About.com

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Garden Maintenance: Pinching versus Shearing

Although threadleaf Coreopsis plants are suitable for deadheading by pinching, the quantity of buds and their close proximity to one another on the stem can make pinching coreopsis a nightmare. With plants like this, you are better off waiting until the majority of buds have bloomed and then shearing the entire plant back by 1/2 to 2/3s. It won't take long at all for the plant to regroup and set more buds.

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