How to Make Roses Blossom

Watch the rose for a full day to see how much sun it receives. Roses require full sunshine all day to produce flowers. If there are tree branches blocking the sun for part of the day, clip them back. Relocate the rose to a sunnier part of the garden if needed.

Give the rose 1 to 2 inches of water, spread over one to two applications every week. Apply 1 inch of water during normal weather and apply 2 inches during hot, dry weather. Infrequent deep watering forces the rose bush to build a strong root system, which is necessary to produce buds.

Combine 8 parts alfalfa meal with 2 parts each of blood meal, bone meal, rock phosphate, cottonseed meal and 1 part Epsom salts. Measure the height of the rose bush and use 1 cup of the mixture for each foot of height to fertilize the bush. Sprinkle it on the soil around the shrub; lightly rake it to the widest point of the bush and water to a depth of 8 inches. Apply the fertilizer in spring and fall after pruning.

Supplement the fertilizer with a solution of 2 tbsp. of fish emulsion, 1 tbsp. of liquid kelp concentrate and 1 tbsp. of unsulfured molasses mixed into 1 gallon of water. Pour 1 gallon of the solution over the soil around the rose once a month from spring until early summer.

Prune the rose stems to a five-leaf cluster with an outward facing bud. Make the cut 1/4 inch above the bud. Some roses experience a flush of bloom shortly after pruning.