MRS FAQs Post: July 6, 2005

Terry March, July 6, 2005 I have roses that only bloom in June - somone told me some time ago, that if you take off the dead rose - and a certain part of the leaf - the rose will bloom again this year - I tried it and it worked - but I forget what leaves to take off. Thanking you in advance...

7/8/05 The process that you are inquiring about is called Dead Heading. Many roses re bloom if you deadhead them, but not all. In particular, a subset of roses called "Old Garden Roses" do not repeat, but assume that your roses are modern and do repeat bloom, if deadheaded. Normally you take off the cane and leaves down to just above a cluster of 5 leaves where you can see a tiny bud in the leaf axial - the angle between the stem and leaf. The higher leaves may be in a cluster of three leaves. I did a quick search using the search engine google and found many articles under deadheading roses, so you can check that out if interested. Jerry Cinnamon MRS Member

Terry March, July 8, 2005 Dear Mr. Cinnamon: Thanks for your answer to my inquiry. My roses are OLD GARDEN ROSES they are approximately 75 years old. I will look into your sugestion....I certainly thank you very much for your time...

7/11/05 Thanks for writing back. Some Old Garden Roses do rebloom but you do need to know what they are. Varieties such as Burbons,, Hybrid Perpeturals, etc. rebloom, whereas as Albas, Gallacias, etc. do not rebloom. It would be helpful if you knew either the specific rose name or category in order to determine if deadheading is useful for the plant. Jerry Cinnamon MRS Member