How you deadhead clusters depends on the size of your rose and whether you want it larger or restricted in size. If the plant is still young and establishing itself, then I grab the cluster in one hand and cut through the upper part of the cluster with the other. This at least removes spent bloom and prevents the formation of hips. The rose then decides where it will produce new growth. Most cluster-flowered roses will produce new flowering wood from both below and within the inflorescence. Next pruning season, I can select where to prune. You wouldn't want to do this for exhibition roses, obviously, but for garden roses, it works fine with the vast majority of cultivars. There are the odd growers here and there that go haywire no matter how you deadhead them. If your rose is over-sized, then use deadheading as an opportunity to reduce its size by pruning to the next budeye below the cluster.

manman and Kay, thank you. It is always fun sharing the beauty with others. Especially as none of my friends are into gardening and really have no idea of what it is all about. Lynne, here's hoping you get some rain. We have been extrememly dry also and the next week we are under excessive heat warnings. Temps into the upper 90's expected with heat indexs up to 110-115. We get those kind of days in summer, but it has been 10 years since we have had extended days with these types of temps. Thankfully we did see some rain last night and again this morning. So far my rain gauge says .62 inch of rain. Very thankful as it will help the plants as many were starting to show heat stress already. Not sure what the coming week will do to those already stressed. pippi21, No real planning except that when we put in the DL bed, I had some peonies that needed moving, so stuck them in there. Then just added in some other perennials that I had extras of. After the peonies are done blooming I just cut back the stems with spent blooms. The bushes themselves look good way into fall. Sorry I can't tell you the names of the ones I have, as they were divisions from my sister who in turn got them from my mom. Between showers this morning I got out and took a few more pictures. Gosh, me take pictures? Who would have thought? Sorry if I am boring anyone, but another hobby of mine is photography.....hehehehe Another of my favorite doubles

I'm with oldrosarian that with around 1000 roses I learn to have fast fingers. I have it much easier than she does though, since roses in warm climates bloom incredibly more than roses in my climate. Like Moses, I really want to see maximum bloom from the roses so I deadhead as often as I can. I do a serious round of deadheading and photo collection every weekend in blooming seasons which usually takes around 2-3 hours (see, not that many blooms in my zone), with some touchup deadheading of my favorites like Lisa mentions in the evenings if I get a walk around the garden after work. If I miss a week for some reason or another it can take most of a gardening day to catch up the next weekend, but since there's little else needing doing in the garden in peak summer hours it's an excuse to be out in the yard where I "need" to get some "chores" done and "have" to put off things like laundry (smile). The cluster flowered bloomers like hybrid musks or Knockouts get pruned at the base of the clusters, and I do shaping pruning of the bushes later in the season if they get big enough that also speeds up deadheading a lot. Roses like Darlow's Enigma that bloom regardless of what I do don't get deadheaded at all - fortunate, being the thorny monster he is - and I'm rarely motivated to get out the ladder to deadhead the few climbers that really get beyond arm's reach in zone 5 more than once or twice a season. Kristen, I can totally relate that I deadhead other people's roses without even noticing I do that. There are some roses with dead canes towering above live growth at one of my doctors' offices and I swear I'm going to bring my pruners next time I'm there and make them (and me) more comfortable. Cynthia

Just nip the stems directly below all the spent blooms first. Then look at the rest of the remaining dead headed stems, and trim further down them if necessary to conceal the fresh cuts or ratty looking foliage, if any. Be conservative in this operation. You cannot put something back once cut away! Moses