June/July – making the most of your blooms
Deadheading
When? Throughout the summer as required
Why? Deadheading is the removal of finished blooms to encourage further blooms and improve the appearance and shape of the rose. You should deadhead repeat-flowering shrub roses and once-flowering shrub roses which don’t produce hips.
How? There are two stages to deadheading. The first is mainly aesthetic, removing the brown finished blooms so you can enjoy the remaining flowers without interruption. The second stage is to remove the entire flowering head once all the blooms in a cluster have finished.
Stage one: Pinch or cut off the finished flower, just below where the base of the flower joins the stem. Leave any remaining buds or blooms to continue flowering.
Stage two: Remove the entire flowering head by cutting the stem just above the first leaf with five leaflets. Once all the flowering heads have been removed, cut any disproportionally tall stems back to the height of the rest of the plant, creating a nice, rounded shape as you go. Do this throughout the flowering season, after each flush of flowers.
Watering
Water every other week throughout the summer months. Recently planted roses will need watering twice a week to help them establish. Roses in pots and containers will need watering every other day.
Water twice as often in really hot weather.
Tip
Don’t forget to bring the outdoors indoors. One of the most enjoyable aspects of growing roses in your garden, is being able to cut a few blooms, and transport their beauty and scent indoors to a vase. To get the best from your cut blooms, select flowers that are just opening and place immediately in a vase of water. Cut roses in the morning when they are at their freshest, well before the heat of the day.
Photos and contribution © credit to David Austin Roses www.davidaustinroses.co.uk
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