I just got a knock out rose bush. It is pink,& I think it is called 'Home Run'. Anyhow, it has a bunch of spent flower heads on it, and I was wondering do I need to dead head it to get more blooms or not? The tag says it seldom needs any pruning. I planted it in a new flower bed right next to my Queen Elizabeth rose, and they look great together. Queen Elizabeth is just getting its first blooms for me The local grocery store had them marked down from $10 to $6, so I got one. It is from Proven Winner. It looks great otherwise, I just wanted to know so I can get more flowers on it. I got the Queen Elizabeth and another rose for $2 each at Aldi's recently, and they are doing well too. They were #1 grade roses, so... moderator's note: added a more descriptive title to topic
They don't require deadheading every time a bloom dies, most of us prune the spent parts off every 4-6 weeks. That starts a new growth cycle and there will be a new flush of blooms coming along. But they will continue to bloom all season without being deadheaded. There is a Knock-out Rose trial garden not too far from me, there are so many bushes they never get deadheaded and bloom off and on all season.
For now, since the bush is young and recently planted, I'd go ahead and remove the spent blooms. It makes the plant look better, and while you are doing the dead-heading, you can see if there are any other things that need taking care of, like crossed canes. After the rose bush is established, you can ignore the spent blooms and just let it do its thing! We are getting an Aldi's at a nearby city. They have $2 roses? Oh, lordy, prayers are answered!
Marlingardener, They were originally $4, but since they were getting a bit leggy and pale, and it was late for planting them, they lowered the price to sell them before they died. Around here, roses are usually planted in March and April so they settle in before the heat arrives. The heat arrived early this year. I will keep them well watered for sure. I thought they were really nice roses, even if they had been $4. Last year [and regularly before that], the local Dollar General had $4 rose bushes, grade 1 1/2 and they were nice roses when they first arrived. However, they had no clue as to how to take care of them, and the unsold ones quickly got sickly and died off. They were STILL asking $4 for DEAD rose bushes and refused to lower their prices. Naturally, no one bought dead/dying plants. They had to take a huge loss on the bushes. This year, they did not have any roses to sell. At least Aldi's lowered the price when the bushes began to decline. Walmart usually has $5 rose bushes, but they sold out quickly this year, and only had the larger tubs for about $16, which I could not afford. I have a $5 rose bush from Walmart's that I bought back in the 90s, and it is thriving and doing great. Unfortunately, I do not recall its technical name, so I have dubbed it Rosa Walmart... Also, how do you find the variety of a rose bush that was mislabeled and is not what the label claims? I have at least two or three of those currently. thanks.
