Garden Guide: This shrub blooms more than ANY other!

Roses typically bloom in May and June, but if you plant "repeat blooming" varieties, the flowers will continue sporadically all summer long and produce an impressive flush of blooms when the weather cools down in late summer.

Alex Calamia

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Oct 9, 2024, 10:42 AM

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Updated 3 hr ago

You might be surprised to see how easy roses are to care for and how long they can bloom.

Roses have a reputation for being a hard to care for shrub, but since the 1990s, there are countless rose varieties that have been bred for an incredible disease resistance and long bloom times. Roses typically bloom in May and June, but if you plant "repeat blooming" varieties, the flowers will continue sporadically all summer long and produce an impressive flush of blooms when the weather cools down in late summer. I have seen knockout roses bloom through November and even keep flowers during mild years into December.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when growing roses:

Select everblooming varieties for the best blooms
Prune off dead branches in Autumn, but save hard pruning for late winter or early spring.
Roses respond well to spring pruning. Cut them back as low as 18" above the ground (only if needed!)
Apply fertilizer from March through July for the best blooms.
Consider spraying copper fungicide in June through August to prevent mold and mildew issues during the hottest and most humid days of the year.