How to Help Roses Bloom

Sharpen your garden shears before doing any cutting on rose bushes. A mangled cut will prevent air circulation, leading to decreased flower production, and since the canes can grow close together, clean cuts with sharp tools will keep you from inadvertently damaging the wrong one.

Water rose plants lightly, but frequently. Water at the roots to avoid getting water on the foliage, which leads to fungal diseases that can damage or kill your rose plants.

Prune rose bushes in the spring. Remove dead and damaged branches. Then cut off all but five of the healthy branches that remain. Prune bushes by one-third to half, cutting above outward-facing buds. The buds will produce upward-facing blossoms that receive proper air circulation.

Fertilize rose bushes three times per year with an all-purpose garden fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 5-10-5. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the fertilizer around the base of each plant. Apply the first round of fertilizer after pruning in early spring. The second round should take place when the season's first blooms are on the plant. Apply the third application toward the end of July.

Prune plants again in the fall. Roses thrive in cooler fall temperatures, and pruning will encourage plentiful, long-lasting blossoms. Fall prunings are lighter than ones done in the spring. Remove between one-quarter to one-third of the bush, and remove all of the blooms. Cut canes back to the size of a pencil, and remove any damaged, diseased or dead wood.

Deadhead spent flowers with sharp gardening shears to encourage additional blooms throughout the blooming season. If this is the bush's first year, remove faded flowers above the top-most three-leaflet leaf to maintain the bush's ability to make food. In established rose bushes, cut the stem back to a leaf with five leaflets. Keep at least two five-leaflet leaves on each cane. Make your cut about 1/4 inch above an outward-facing bud. The cut should be parallel to the angle of the accompanying leaflet.