How and why to dead-head your roses

Roses are definitely up there in my list of favourite flowers, and for good reason! Their exquisite blooms can captivate anyone, they’re a symbol of love and beauty and with such a range of different colours, shapes, perfumes and petal types, I challenge anyone not to like them, I know there will be at least one variety that you’ll love, in all honestly I think there’s nothing to dislike and everything to LIKE about roses.

To keep these stunning flowers blooming for as long as possible, you need to embrace a simple yet essential gardening practice: dead-heading. In this blog post, we’ll explore why it’s important to dead-head your roses regularly, using the example of one of my favourite roses, perfectly named “Absolutely Fabulous.” Learn how to dead-head effectively and understand how this simple task can keep your rose garden in full, glorious bloom throughout the summer and into the autumn.

Dead-heading your roses will ensure that you have a constant display of these beautiful flowers.

Absolutely Fabulous

Before we explore the skill of dead-heading, let’s take a moment to appreciate the star of the show, the beautiful Absolutely Fabulous rose. This stunning variety is known for its striking yellow-gold blooms and gorgeous fragrance. With proper care, it can be a continuous showpiece and will bloom for ages! I’d originally given it to my Mum as a birthday present, however unfortunately it didn’t thrive on their balcony, whether it was too sheltered, didn’t get enough sun, or was scared of heights – we’ll never know, however she asked me to look after it in my garden so I’m doing my best to help this beautiful rose be at her best.

Why it’s important to dead-head your flowers

Dead-heading, simply put, is the practice of removing spent or faded flowers from your roses, or in other words cutting off the dead flowers. While this might seem like a small task, its benefits are enormous, so if you’ve ever wondered why you need to dead-head your flowers, read on to find out more:

Dead-heading encourages new growth: When you remove spent flowers, you stimulate the plant to produce more flowers. This continuous cycle of blooming is what keeps your favourite roses like Absolutely Fabulous looking stunning throughout the summer and into the autumn.
Dead-heading prevents seed production: If you don’t dead-head your flowers, the rose will focus all of its energy on producing seeds – after all it’s aim in life, like all plants, is to reproduce. You want your plant to focus on producing more flowers, not producing seed heads.
Dead-heading keeps your plants looking their best: Dead-heading keeps your rose bush tidy and also ensures that only the most beautiful and vibrant flowers are on display. You could always cut some of the roses and bring them inside and pop into a vase for a beautiful display of home grown flowers.

How to dead-head your roses

Dead-heading is a straightforward task that can be accomplished with basic tools and a gentle touch. Here’s how to do it:

Inspect your rose bushes regularly, this is a useful habit to get into as you’ll also need to look out for uninvited ~~pests~~ guests such as greenfly to make sure they don’t devour your buds when they’re at that delicate stage.
Look out for any spent or faded flowers, these will typically be on the end of a stem and will have fallen petals and those that remain will be a paler colour.
I try and dead-head each individual flower as I spot them but when you’ve dead-headed all of the flowers in a cluster, you’ll need to cut the stem down a little lower. You will need to follow the stem down to a set of leaves with five leaflets and make a diagonal cut just above this point. Use sharp and clean pruning shears to ensure a clean cut.
Dispose of the dead-headed flowers either in your garden waste bin, or in your compost bin if you have one.
Continue this process throughout the blooming season to keep your roses looking their best.

Conclusion

Roses are a popular choice for a cottage garden, perfect for scented gardens and a beautiful plant to ensure you have repeated blooms year after year.

Regularly dead-heading your roses, like my beautiful Absolutely Fabulous variety, is a simple yet incredibly effective way to ensure a continuous display of stunning blooms in your garden.

By removing faded flowers, you will encourage new growth, prevent seed production, and your roses will look blooming lovely!

So, embrace the art of dead-heading, and watch your roses flourish from early summer all the way through September and maybe beyond, creating a garden that’s truly beautiful and absolutely fabulous!