Oftentimes, summer-blooming flowers start fading in August as plants move into their seed-setting phase to ensure their genetic material continues on. Whether you're growing annuals or certain perennials, you can deadhead them — remove withered blooms — to encourage the plants to bloom rather than shift into seed production. For flowering plants that benefit from deadheading, cut entire dead flowers off the stems. Use hand pruners to cut off the spent flowers if they're larger or use a more drastic method known as shearing for plants that have a profusion of little blooms. Also, take care with biennials, because if you deadhead them, you risk taking all the seeds they need to come back the following year.