Roses make for a stunning addition to any garden, whether it’s planting a miniature variety to keep in pots, or going for full border display, they can easily jazz up your outdoor space with their bold and colourful petals. Coming into bloom in late spring, if cared for correctly, they’ll continue to produce pretty buds through the autumn months too.
Caring for roses requires keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don’t fall victim to garden pests and diseases. Aphids, in particular, are notorious for targeting the flower, and discoloured leaves might be a sign your rose is suffering from the fungal disease black spot. Using a three-in-one spray can help keep your plant safe from any damage caused by pests or disease, but there’s also one other task that’s essential to ensuring your roses continue to flower.
If your rose bush bloomed on time this year, you might notice that some of the buds have started to look a bit weary, and it’s not the vibrant display you might have hoped for. Before you panic, this is completely normal.
Roses are a repeat flowering plant, meaning new buds continue to bloom and eventually decay on the plant, but one task is essential to keep them blooming and an expert has shared how to complete this.
In a video posted on TikTok, Sophie from @lookinsidemygarden shared how to deadhead a rose to maintain a tidy and thriving rose bush by looking out for a few crucial signs on the plant.
If left on the bus, faded and decaying flowers can make plants more susceptible to fungal infections.
Deadheading your roses simply refers to the process of removing these buds from the plant, but there’s a way of doing this to ensure it continues to bloom.
Sophie said: “It’s really simple, but you just want to make sure that you’re snipping it in the right place, and then you’re going to get more flowers.”
While some people might be afraid to chop so much off, for flowers with no other buds coming into bloom on the stems, Sophie encourages trimming these back to “where there’s five leaves on the stem”.
“Remember that roses are repeat flowering, so you will get more growth with more stems and more buds,” she said.
For flowers that have bloomed but there’s more buds coming from the same stem, the process looks slightly different.
Instead of cutting this all the way back, Sophie explained that “it’s going to be a case of just snipping out the one stem that your rose is on” so that the buds underneath can continue to bloom.
