If it’s late June in the United States, especially the Midwest, there’s a good chance that your roses have just finished their very first bloom cycle or flush.
Depending on the rose variety, you may already see new buds break their dormancy at the leaf axils (where the leaves meet the stem). Reddish-tinted shoots are beginning their journey to flowering as we speak.
Should I deadhead my rose?
How do I deadhead my rose?
My rose looks like crap now. What can I do about it?
These may be questions you are asking yourself. Good news! We’re here to help you.
What is deadheading?
Deadheading is when you clip off the flowers that are beginning to fade or have completely dropped their petals.
Deadheading keeps the plant looking tidy and also pushes the plants to produce more blooms.
Winter dormant pruning is not the same as deadheading. Dormant pruning occurs during the Winter or very early Spring and focuses on shaping the plant and removing dead or diseased canes.
Why should I deadhead my rose?
Just like many other flowering plants, a rose’s goal is to reproduce. Roses are commercially reproduced by cuttings for the most part.
Did you know roses produce seeds? Better yet, did you know they produce a fruit called a rose hip which surrounds the seeds?
When you don’t deadhead your rose after it has bloomed, the plant is still sending energy up to that flower head. If the flower was pollinated while it was open, then the little plant ovary is beginning to develop seeds.
Producing babies is a lot of work, for both humans and plants alike. We need a lot of energy and nutrients.
When we cut off that faded bloom, we tell the plant to stop sending its energy to the flower to make seeds! When this ovary is gone, the plant then decides to put its energy elsewhere, like new shoots.
A rose wants to grow new shoots because it wants to try to reproduce again.
We can use this desire for making offspring to our advantage. By deadheading, we continually remove the one thing the plant wants to do (i.e. dominate the world by multiplying), so the plant sets out to reproduce again, and again, and again.
How to Deadhead Your Rose
A rule of thumb to remember when deadheading your rose is to make sure you are snipping the flower stem just above a leaf with at least 5 leaflets.
Roses grow leaves with leaflets in odd numbers. To explain, roses have compound leaves, which means that a single leaf is made up of multiple “leaflets”. All the leaflets are connected to a petiole (stem), which is then connected to the main stem.
Take a look at your rose. More than likely you’ll see 1 to 2 (or more) leaves just below the flower head with only 3 leaflets.
To know where to deadhead, draw your eyes down the flower stem until you see a leaf with 5 leaflets. You can make the cut right above this leaflet to deadhead.
Many people say to cut at least a ¼ inch above the leaf and cut it at a 45 degree angle to help water shed off the top of the new cut (to prevent rot). For the most part you don’t need to be so technical, but if you feel it will help, by all means take this advice.
You don’t have to cut right above the first leaf that you see with 5 leaflets. You can cut further down the plant stem if you’d like. This is dependent on your situation and your needs.
How to Care for Cutting & Landscape Roses
The deeper you cut into the plant, the longer the new flower stems are going to be. When people grow roses for cutting, they desire long stems. So, when they harvest the roses for cut flowers or deadhead their faded rose blooms, they cut deeper into the plant.
But some people don’t need long, gangly stems. Some people just want the rose bush to remain shapely as it resides in the landscape. The higher up you cut, the shorter the new rose stems will be. But sometimes this makes for a more rounded, shapely rose bush.
Experiment! Each rose variety is different. You may find the way you deadhead one plant is not the same as the other.
Some rose varieties, like floribundas, produce a lot of little flowers on one stem. You will likely have to cut a little bit deeper in order to make sure all the faded flowers are taken off.
Sometimes the plant will guide you when deadheading. You may notice new shoots already starting to emerge from the leaf axil (where the leaf meets the stem) at the first or second leaf with 5 leaflets.
Now you know how much to snip off, because the plant is telling you, “Hey, this bud is alive and ready to grow.”
What happens if I don’t deadhead my rose?
Thanks to advances in plant breeding and hybridization, we’ve been trained as homeowners and amateur landscapers to “plant the plants and forget them”.
There are some varieties out there that are known as “self-cleaning” or “continuous-blooming”. They are naturally prolific plants that will continue to bloom no matter whether you deadhead or not.
But all repeat-blooming rose varieties will benefit from deadheading, even if they are prolific bloomers.
First of all, deadheading tidies up the plant.
Secondly, deadheading tells the plant to “get to work” when you deadhead. The plant isn’t confused or trying to divide its energy between new shoots and seed-making. You may even find that your second or third flush of blooms will come on quicker if you deadhead promptly.
Do I have to deadhead?
You don’t have to deadhead your roses. It’s happened to me before. I get carried away with the season and forget.
Roses are resilient and they’ll carry on, blooming with a second or third flush. The old, ugly flower heads will still be hangin’ out on the plant.
However, the varieties I have neglected are often very full, double petaled roses. This means they have several layers of petals. It’s hard for the plant to be pollinated by insects because they can’t get down into layers of petals as easily.
Because they weren’t pollinated properly, the blooms were never going to set hips and seed. They weren’t fertilized. So when they were done blooming and I subsequently didn’t deadhead, they weren’t really putting much energy into making seeds in the first place.
You don’t have to deadhead your roses. But your reward will be greater if you do. More blooms (and sometimes bigger blooms) await you when you take a little bit of time to snip off that old flower.
Should I deadhead my once-blooming rose?
If your rose is of the old garden type with European lineage or even of wild rose lineage, it may only bloom once per year, regardless of whether you deadhead or not.
Leaving the old flowers is usually beneficial for the once-blooming roses, because then you will get the rose hips to develop. Suddenly you have a specimen plant that provides food for wildlife or you, and also provides Winter color and interest in the garden.
But some people like a tidy garden, so they deadhead their once-blooming roses when the bloom time is over.
With once-bloomers, it’s really up to you whether you deadhead or not.
Keep it Simple
When deadheading roses, keep these main steps in mind:
- Look down the flower stem for the first or second leaf that has at least 5 leaflets.
- Snip off the old flower top at about ¼ inch above the leaf with the 5 leaflets.
- Pick up your trimmings! Don’t leave them around your rose bush to be a habitat for disease.
- Wait a few weeks and enjoy your blooms!
Roses like to bloom in flushes about 6 to 8 weeks apart. This depends on the variety. Some are more free-flowering than others.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with shaping your rose bush in the way you’d like it. If you want more stems suitable for cutting, snip deeper into the plant. Always remember you need to leave enough leaves and stem so that the plant can sustain itself.
In the landscaping, you don’t need to cut as deep. Just make sure the old blooms are gone to keep the plant tidy and wait for the next round.
Happy snipping!
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