Today we are sharing a quick and easy post on how to trim a rose!
Did you know there is proper way to trim a rose so you make your rose bush grow back right? I never knew until college we covered an entire section on rose trimming and pruning! By trimming a rose this way, you will force healthy growth, and it will actually grow more full. This is how I keep my roses healthy and get rid of spent blooms.
How To Trim a Rose (Deadheading)
There is actually quite a bit of technicality when it comes to trimming a rose. I used to look up stuff on taking care of my roses, and would get boggled down with all the terms like bud eye, latent bud, and so on.
Well, we won’t be talking about that today. This is simple, easy, layman’s terms on trimming. Now, we aren’t going to talk about pruning in this section, that will be another time. This is about simply trimming a bloom.
By trimming your roses correctly from the bush, you will keep your rose bush healthy and blooms come back even better!
Here is what to do to trim rose blooms:
- Determine which bloom you want to remove
- Find the closest 5 or 7 leaflet close to the bloom
- Cut above that, about 1/4 inch above an outward facing bud at a 45º angle
Take a closer look at the cut angle:
You can’t see, but the other side is an outward facing bud which I cut 1/4″ above that. Here is a picture from my old text book with some notes I added, it is a little blurry, but a perfect example of the final look.
Now you know how to trim a rose 🙂
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Jaelan says
This is GREAT to know! I’m always looking for ways to better my “gardening” skills.
Alexis says
Thanks Jaelan! I’m all about easy tips when it comes to gardening, makes it much more approachable! 🙂
Stephanie says
Good morning, Alexis! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful and helpful information with Roses of Inspiration. I greatly appreciate you linking up with us and I hope you’re able to join us again sometime soon 🙂 Hugs!
chris aka monkey says
thanks for sharing this i am just an old woman that loves roses and i love simple advice, what can you tell me about japanese beetles i battle them every year i hand pick them but i can’t get them and they eat the crap out of my bushes i have copd so i can’t use chemicals any help you can give me i would love you for xx
Alexis says
Thank you for your comments and for stopping by! I have never had any experience (luckily) with Japanese beetles, but I do know some fellow gardeners who use a natural ceder wood oil spray as well as mixing garlic, cayenne pepper, oil and warm water. I’ve never personally used these methods, but I have heard of people having success with it. I hope this helps!
Anne Payne says
Wow. Now I know I have been trimming them incorrectly. My poor Roses probably hate me! Thanks for such a simple explanation and visual. I’m searching for the proper way to prune them, too. Do you have anything posted on that?
Alexis says
I haven’t posted any pruning tips yet, but I will have a full tutorial this fall! That is the best time to prune them. It is very similar to trimming, you just cut back much more for the winter. You should be able to trim them pretty good right now, then really cut them back in the fall for the best growth. Let me know if you have questions and I will be posting that pruning information for the fall 🙂
Laura Ingalls Gunn says
Great information I have been trimming my roses all wrong! Thank you for linking up to the garden party.
Alexis says
Thanks Laura!!! It is amazing how trimming this way really makes a difference too 🙂
Pamala Farnham says
There were so many ads in the middle of your lesson i couldnt read what you had to offer!
Alexis says
I’m sorry to hear that. Is it mobile view or desktop? We try to minimize them as much as possible, but it is how we support running this website. Thank you for letting me know
Shanna McDonald says
Hi! Thanks for the post! I’ve been using this method of trimming but have noticed my healthy 5 leaflet series keep getting smaller and smaller. Should I be going further down the branch to find a bigger leaf set or do I find the very first outward facing set/bud and trim there? Hope that makes sense 🙂
Thanks!!
Alexis says
You want to find a big healthy one! It doesn’t have to be the first one 🙂
Duane Stevens says
I bought the ebook from your site. I was looking for best way to clean the sweat stains from my dark blue ball cap. Try to make it look good again. I didn’t see anything in the index about ball caps.
Is there somewhere to look I’m missing??
Thanks
Alexis says
There aren’t specific tips like that in the eBook, but all types of basic cleaners for many surfaces. You can try the stain remover in the laundry section, or also the all-purpose cleaner can be used too for surfaces like that.