deadheading roses in Italian gardens

when and why do i remove dead rose flowers in Italy?

Italian gardens are full of rose blooms in may and june but, however beautiful this floral spectacle may be, it does come to an end at some stage and this is the time to perform a delicate prune of this beloved plant in Italian gardens. As the first flush of rose flowers begins to fade, usually towards the end of June, the dead flowers should be removed with garden secateurs. The soul purpose of the rose flower is ultimately to produce a fruit, known as rose hips, which form at the base of the rose flower as the flower dies and house the precious rose seeds.

By removing fading rose flowers we are essentially preventing the rose from producing those precious seeds and the rose will therefore immediately do all it can to produce a new set of rose blooms, in a desperate attempt to reach its ultimate goal- that of reproduction. Although this may seem somewhat cruel, this second flush of rose flowers extends the flowering season by as much as three months and actually benefits the rose in the long run.

how do I deadhead a rose?

When the rose has faded and has lost its vigour it should be pruned back to above a leaf joint or ‘node’ and from here the rose will begin shooting out another flower stem. I tend to prune the rose quite hard and I take the opportunity to re-shape the rose plant into the shape I desire by cutting back 3 or 4 nodes and sometimes more.

The rose plant should then be fertilised and well watered in order to assist the rose with its recovery from the pruning. The rose will generally produce another set of flowers which although it won’t be as stunning as the first bloom, it will nonetheless provide colour until September and sometimes longer.