Off with the spikes!

[sand_tiger86]

Agreed ^ It's for the good of the plant, so it can put on an equally good (or better) show next year without having to worry about the plant dying on you. And if you makes you feel any better (you may realize this already, but its hard to tell from the context of your post), those spikes pictured look done blooming with several empty flower sockets. If thats what you cut off, you were only cutting off sticks anyway