Yes.

Jeri

The only time I don't deadhead, is any once flowering rose with good hips.
All other roses need deadheading, so that they can put their energy into making more blooms.
Otherwise, that energy goes into producing seed.
Daisy

I almost posted this question myself. What do you do about those that have SO many flowers to do - such as a climber? I keep looking at my New Dawn and am just overwhelmed.

Also, I know there are the conventional thoughts about deadheading HT's (cut above the second five leaflet, etc.) but for other types, and especially those shrubby types that are covered in old blooms, can you just cut off the flowers - snip, snip, snip! - without any "care" as to WHERE you are cutting on the stem? In other words, I have been just cutting (or pinching with my fingers) the flower tip off. Is this ok?

Lynn

I sure hope someone answers texaslynn's question as I am wondering the same thing. I use my thumb nail to pinch right under where the hip would form. Should I have my pruners in hand and cut down farther on the stem. My Belinda's Dream is really looking sad. All stem with very little up top

Patti

Lynn,

Yes, even just pulling off the roses is fine. It is also fine for HT's if you want to maximize height of the plant. The flower neck will die; if this bothers you, snap it off at the base.

I have a couple of large plants with a massive number of flowers that I deadhead with hedge clippers, cutting the stems any old where. Stems will die back harmlessly to the next leaf joint. I've been doing this for 25 years with no harm.

Patti,

If BD or any other rose is getting too tall and leggy, you should be taking 1-2 feet of stem when you deadhead. Cut above any leaf joint according to what is appropriate for the growth of the plant. I might deadhead even 3' stems from growth monsters like Othello or Frederic Mistral.

My grandmother taught me to deadhead by snapping the faded blooms off at the abcission point.
(She didn't call it that. She called it: "Snap it right THERE.")

ARS taught me that was WRONG. That I should cut at LEAST to a 5-leafed leaflet.

I grow mostly Teas, Chinas, Noisettes and the like.
Experience eventually taught me that my grandmother was (as usual) right -- for the sort of roses I grow, at least.

The Sacramento City Cemetery folks call it "Bend and Snap" deadheading.
It changes deadheading from a chore to a rather pleasant dallying in the garden.

Jeri

Jeri
I am so glad you said that about where to deadhead because I never have pruners when needed and just snap off the bloom plus small stem. It's like mindless meditation.

Can't do the five-leaf prune manually (tried) it just damages the stem and then adult language ensues.

Belinda D. and OGR's seem fine with that method, it's my hybrids that want a 5-leaf pruning.

Denise

I fully agree with Jeri.

I add that rugosas should instead not be deadheaded from mid summer on, to allow the formation of hips.

Yes, Denise. It IS like mindless meditation -- so being in the garden, doing that, is really pleasant.

As to your HTs, you CAN deadhead them that way.
It's just that you won't get big honking long stems.
AAMOF, there are some HTs -- like the Pernetiana descendants -- who would be better off deadheaded that gently.

Really, the only time we cut longer stems at all anymore is when we are picking for a vase.

DH saw me heading to one area of the garden last Fall, clippers in hand.

"What are you going to cut?" he said.

-- "Oh, there's a big bloom over on that rose that I'm going to pick for a vase." I said.

"YOU LEAVE THAT ALONE!" he said. "I want that for a cutting!"

WHOOPS! :-)

Jeri

Have you ever walked in someone else's garden and mindlessly started deadheading? Then you stop in embarrssment as if you'd been picking up her dirty socks laying around? And weeds, do you pull other people's weeds while you're chatting? I've got some very unmannerly habits. Once in a friend's garden I bent down and pulled a "weed" only to hear her gasp. It was a young companion plant. Looked like a weed to me. I guess I'll be getting fewer invites to friends' gardens now.

Sherry

Sherry, you are too funny for words!

I do not pull weeds. My back hurts!
But I do snap off deadheads.

Until I suddenly realize that they're looking at me funny.
The remedy is to show them how to do it. :-)

Jeri

What to do with this rose. Plenty of beautiful blooms on top and then no leaves or blooms all the way down Should I after it is thru blooming cut stem way down to ground.

Finch -- The hormones that trigger bloom formation rise to the highest point in the stem, so if the rose goes straight up 8 ft., guess where the blooms will be?
And yes, some roses also drop their lower leaves.

Some people prune ruthlessly after each flush of bloom, to promote another flush, but I think you won't have those plants for many years, if you keep doing that.

One approach is to plant something in front of the rose, to cover up its bare legs. (I have heard roses described as "ugly plants with bare bottoms.")
Another approach might be to espalier the plant against a fence or wall, pulling canes out on the horizontal (which results in many blooming laterals).
Or you can wind long canes around a tripod, to promote the same thing -- blooming laterals.

Jeri

My wife and I like deadheading. It's a pleasant, easy garden chore, the bush looks much better when you're finished and I think it makes more blooms. I have some roses that bloom in clusters. If I'm overwhelmed with deadheading it, I bring out my snippers and cut off a bit lower down and get all those "dead heads" with one snip. I think this would coincide with what Jeri said about cutting to the first group of 5 leaves.

Sherry, ha ha, YES!!! The biggest task I have at work ( I maintain landscaping beds at a golf course) is pulling weeds, so anytime I am near plants I tend to mindlessly bend over and start plucking. Force of habit! Too bad I don't spend more time hanging out around my OWN beds.

what Jeri said about cutting to the first group of 5 leaves.

*** Nope.

Jeri never said nuthin' about cutting down to a five-leaflet leaf.

For the roses I grow: Teas, Noisettes, Chinas ... I do not deadhead that far down.
I only cut that sort of stem length when I want blooms for a vase in the house, or (far rarer) for exhibition.
In our garden, for the most part, faded blooms are snapped off at the abcission point.
The rose then puts up new growth from the point that is best from the point of view of the plant.

Jeri
(Who never cuts to a five-leaflet leaf.)

With once bloomers, what if you don't know about hips and don't care anyway? I was thinking today it might be better to deadhead so it wouldn't tax the plant, especially a couple really baby ones that need all the strength they can muster? Will it help them to bloom better the following year if they don't have a setback from unusually harsh weather, etc.?

Was looking for what the abcission point was and found a good, short article w/photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rethinking Deadheading, Sacramento Cem, Anita Clevenger

Aliska,

IMO, baby plants that are capable of forming hips should definitely be dead-headed promptly. The rose pumps enough fuel into a hip to grow a good-sized stem instead. I wouldn't go for hips unless the plant were already as big as I wanted it to be.

I agree with Michael (no surprise!).

With a baby plant, I would (I do) just snap the faded bloom off at the abcission point.
If the plant is a REAL baby (i.e., a band plant) I usually snap the buds off before they mature and open. I want the plant to use its energy for growth and roots, not blooms.

Jeri