Bloom Cycles

 

Bloom Cycles -­‐ what are they? Well everyone knows how beautiful the first flush of blooms are in April and May. The roses have stored up lot of energy over the winter and push out new growth in the spring. What results is the best blooms of the season. But at the Rose Garden, we try hard to keep the garden in constant bloom.

As you know, after a bloom is finished, we deadhead.

This causes a new growth and new blooms to emerge. In about 45 days a new bloom will emerge (your mileage may vary, refer to your rose owners manual!). Then, after that bloom is finished, it is deadheaded again, and so on.

In the Rose Garden, it is not unusual for us to get 5 bloom cycles before winter pruning. You can see the “cycles” by looking at some of the stems. They look like steps. As you know, we like to cut to an outside leaf, to direct the growth in an organized manner.

In this picture, you will see where the January cut was, the 1st deadheading, and the second deadheading, and now it is ready for its third bloom cycle. So take a look at your roses at home, or those in the Garden and see if you can see how many bloom cycles have been produced.