Asters and rudbeckias dead head or not?

This is my first time growing rudbeckia and asters I've bought a few recently from the garden centre. They are starting to lose their petals so does dead heading help to prolong the flowering? One of the asters (I can't remember the name ) has loads of tiny pale pink flowers so dead heading could be tricky but not impossible!

 

Rudbeckias are getting close to the end of their growing season now. I don’t deadhead mine as I like to see the dried flowers over winter. The petals fall off but the centres and stalks remain and make good silhouettes in the garden. I don’t grow Asters so can’t advise. I’d probably leave them too and then decide whether I like the look of them, or not .

 

I deadhead both, if I see them, but it depends on weather conditions and how I feel about going out in pouring rain or wind as opposed to a decent day.
Deadheading rudbeckias can help produce a few more flowering stems, but it can depend on type and time of year. I won't get many new flower producing stems now, even though they were later coming into flower, and it's incredibly mild here for the time of year. You could just play it by ear - deadhead a few and leave a few. Asters are quite easy to nip out with your fingers

 

@Millie16 I live in a reasonably mild area and my Rudbeckias stopped producing new flowers a couple of weeks ago. I don't deadhead now for the reason described earlier. This is how mine look today. If yours look like mine and you want winter interest, I'd leave them, deadheading will not encourage new flowers now. If you don't like the dried flowers, wait for the entire plant to die down and then cut it down near the base.

 

I can’t give advice on Asters but plants like Rudbeckia, Echinacea and Astrantia, they do best if the are left as they are and cut back in March.
You will also notice how many ladybirds overwinter in these dry looking leaves, and the dried flower heads provide shelter over winter for many little insects.
In other words, there is no plant that is cut back before March/April apart from the odd one, the Hardy Geranium in December.

 

You haven't said where you're located @Millie16, and that's a very important factor.

I'm sorry but that's a sweeping generalisation to say 'there is no plant that is cut back before March/April apart from the odd one, the Hardy Geranium in December. ' If I left perennials till then the garden would be a mess. Foliage/stems get trashed by weather here where I am, don't die back nicely, and would cover ground where emerging spring bulbs would be affected by that. It's hard enough to prevent rotting of many spring bulbs without adding more problems. I cut back foliage once it's browned [it's not benefiting anything by that point] and it goes in the compost bin, where it can do plenty of good for the garden eventually.
Geraniums get cut back after flowering, as many have a second flush, although that doesn't always happen here either, but you get fresh foliage, so that could be June or July depending on the variety.

 

I cut back and remove anything that’s not providing winter interest or which might harbour slugs or snails. There are enough nooks and crannies in my dry sandstone walling for beneficial bugs and creatures to hide plus lots of evergreen foliage over winter.

 

I'd be fighting a losing battle trying to prevent slugs and snails hiding @Plantminded ! The Irises, for example, produce a lot of foliage which has to be removed as it dies back, as that would be a real mess if I left it. Having evergreens and trees/shrubs with a good framework is what provides most of my winter interest. That's by far the easiest solution. Perennials and bulbs are just the additions for spring into summer, plus some annuals, and they, and dying foliage of perennials, form most of the material for the compost bins.
The small numbers of ladybirds we get here tend to overwinter among clematis stems and woody shrubs/hedging- never in foliage.

 

One of the advantages here @fairygirl is that sandy soil doesn’t provide a cosy damp retreat for slugs and snails. I rarely see any, but I don’t go out looking for them at night . I avoid growing anything that attracts them like annuals and dahlias. I found that the three large beds of Bergenias when I moved here were the source of most of them so out they came. Like you I grow lots of evergreens for all year structure and colour.

 

They hide anywhere and everywhere here @Plantminded . I have a pot of Muscari which I wanted to divide up and put into 2 smaller pots I have. They're in a plastic pot inside the outer shell of an old one that the base fell out of. I decided to do it yesterday. There was a total of 11 large slugs and one small one, plus 2 snails, under and around the 2 pots. I gave the outer shell a good scrub - it looked like it had been roughcasted inside
I don't go out collecting them at night either. I'd never get to bed, and there's enough of them to collect in the daytime. They hide under every pot or container.

 

Yuk, have you ever thought of getting a couple of Indian runner ducks @fairygirl? I believe they eat slugs and stay grounded ..... until Mr Fox arrives .

 

Plenty of foxes round here - pity they don't eat them, but it's in our deeds about not being allowed chickens, so I think ducks would be out of the question too @Plantminded

 

Thanks for the info everyone , it was more a case of does dead heading produce more flowers but I guess being autumn now these plants do one good flush then thats it. I like the idea of keeping them standing especially the rudbeckia as I agree they do have nice structure, I wonder if any birds go for the seeds? I also wonder if i can collect seeds & try growing more!

 

Yes, small birds like Goldfinches eat the seeds. You could also collect the seed, best to do this on a dry day. Rudbeckias also clump up quickly and divide easily.

 

I'm assuming it's a perennial Rudbeckia you have @Millie16 , as you said you'd got it in a GC?
I only grow from seed, although I'm considering getting one of the gold perennial types. They may not produce more flowering stems, but the annuals certainly do.

I've never seen goldies taking seed from the annual ones if I haven't deadheaded, but they have a regular supply of sunflower hearts, so they choose those before any seedheads on plants. They try V. bonariensis if the seed is dry enough, which doesn't always happen easily, but I've had more seedheads this year due to the very dry weather we had, so they've had a go at those now and again. The sparrows like V.bon too.