How to deadhead roses

‘Memorial Day’ Photo by Márcio Cabral de Moura

Like clockwork, ‘Memorial Day’ is in full bloom in our test garden. And while Lauren Dunec Hoang confessed to me that she loathes it (“Color, form, basically everything about it), I love it!  It’s a robust, upright hybrid tea variety with a super sweet scent that makes for a long-lasting cut flower. Really—what’s not to love?

It’s a repeat blooming rose, meaning so long as its deadheaded, it’ll keep producing flowers all season. Repeat blooming roses include tea, floribunda, hybrid perpetual, and many shrub types. Older varieties, known for magical fragrance and huge blossoms, tend to bloom just once.

Here’s how we keep it blooming throughout the summer.[youtube

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P.S. I’m not actually all that giant of a rose fan. I do love ‘Memorial Day,’ and I’m a sucker for ‘Golden Celebration’. You should come by and smell it.

‘Golden Celebration’ Photo by T.Kiya

But the one I’d like to rip out of the test garden and throw in the compost pile forever is ‘Fourth of July’. But it’s a crowd pleaser each and every Celebration Weekend!

‘Fourth of July’