Got a rose bush you have no idea what to do with? Learn how to deadhead roses to keep them looking beautiful, and how to prune them every year to keep them healthy.

Moving to a new home in Arkansas in JUNE has it’s downsides. The plants get crazy. This is the progress of our front bed, from our first move in, to a chainsaw, pruning shears and many hours of weeding later.

The rose bush on the far left was kind of an experiment. I wasn't sure if I cut it back too much...what if I killed it? 

But nope, my mom was right as usual. It grew in beautifully and has already bloomed completely!

After a month or so, the rose petals all fell off and now it’s not too pretty.

You might give up on roses at this point, but give them some time! Roses bloom on new growth (purple-ish leaves instead of green), and they do continue to put out new shoots of growth all season. One thing you can do to help encourage that new growth is called “deadheading”.

Step One: Deadhead Your Roses a Few Times Each Summer

Deadheading not only encourages new growth, but it also keeps your rose bush much neater looking. It’s super quick and easy and can be an easy happiness boost!

I could have done this earlier and more often, but I think it's more efficient to wait until the first round of roses expire.

To deadhead, instead of cutting each individual flower, look a little further down for the first set of five leaves.

Cut right above that using a right angle and clean sharp scissors or shears. 

Sometimes that means cutting off a healthy flower, another reason to wait for a lot of dead flowers. Keep up the good work, and less than five minutes later that rose bush will already look much better.

Take an extra five minutes to weed a bit and clear away the dead heads for an added face-lift.

I use pruning shears, but you can also use a pair of sharp scissors or garden hand clippers. Do wear gloves - rose thorns are no joke!

You'll have blooms back in no time.

General Rose Care

If your Roses look scraggly and sort of dead, they probably need one or all of three things, water, sun or fertilizer. 

1. The rain takes care of these roses for me, but if you live in a dry climate, soak at the roots with a hose every week or two.

2. Roses need FULL sun. That means at LEAST 6 hours. Maybe your roses got planted in the wrong spot? If you’re spot is too shady, you can always try moving them to a new spot. Dig them up carefully in the fall or spring while they are dormant. (Prune them first so you don’t have to deal with so many thorns!)

3. Fertilizer. If the first two are taken care of, your roses are probably lacking some nutrient. Rose gardeners typically fertilize no matter what the whole time roses are growing until they go dormant in the fall. Try adding compost or aged manure every spring around the base of your rose bush. Commercial mixes designed for roses are great too. Just follow the directions.

Step Two: Prune Your Roses Yearly

Plan on pruning back your roses yearly. I prefer doing this in the fall so everything looks tidy through the winter. But you can prune in spring. Cutting roses down will make them more bushy and thick, so I wouldn't suggest the same method described below for climbing roses. 

The point of pruning is to get the plant to stop wasting energy on dying branches or massive size, all to encourage more lovely flowers.

To prune, cut away dead branches, branches that are criss-crossed or funky, and get the overall height down to 18-24 inches.

You can definitely get more fancy, but these are the basics. 

We all have way too much stress and ugly in our lives.  Beautiful things really make a difference! Every time I pull into my driveway I see these roses and I smile.

Keep growing!

Lauresa

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