[mrs bouquet]

I have quite a large plant, which flowered beautifully and still is flowering a little.   The instructions say to deadhead.   But the leaves have gone completely brown and dead to about half way up.    Should I cut it back, if so how far down.  I think it must like more water than it has been getting .  Thanks  Mrs Bouquet

[JayG]

Dead heading is probably to stop it seeding all over the place, although you might want to let yours set seeds if it appears to be dying off.
They're short-lived perennials so if you've already had yours a few years it might not come back next year, although to be honest there always seems to be a replacement plant growing somewhere (e.g. in the smallest gap between paving slabs in my case!)

[mrs bouquet]

You are right, I have noticed there many many baby plants around it,     I shall cover mysef up tomorrow and see what I can do with it.     It is competing with a very large root of Wisteria, which keeps popping up and anEchinacea beside it.  Thanks,  Mrs B

[mrs bouquet]

I went out early today and removed the plant.  In the middle was a new plant, which I have replanted.   There were many babies around, so I dug those out just leaving one for next year.  I hate to remove plants, but I can see the Echinacea now, which is very pretty.   So thanks for the advice.    Mrs B

[JayG]

Glad it's all sorted Mrs. B.