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Dr. Leda's Rose Journal |
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Confessions of a Compulsive Deadheader: Part II
Dr. Leda spends her summer vacation illegally grooming other people's roses....
By Dr. Leda Horticulture, O. R.
August, 2004
In last month's column, Confessions of a Compulsive Deadheader: Part I, Dr. Leda's loyal readers were introduced to the basic tenets of deadheading roses. For you disloyal readers, Johnnies-Come-Lately, and short-term memory challenged folks out there, here's a quick review of what we learned about this popular summertime gardening chore:
- We learned that "deadheading" simply means the removal of funky faded finished flowers from the plant.
- We learned that we deadhead roses primarily to promote rebloom, to make the rose bush look tidy, and because we have an innate genetic urge to pick at unsightly growths.
- We learned that trespassing on private property in order to obsessively groom other people's roses is an indication that we may need to work on our boundary issues.
August Rose Show
Join our seventh annual Harvest of Roses on Saturday, September 4th, at our Nursery in Fremont, California. Prize ribbons and trophies awarded in 19 classes. Open to all, from the newest rose culitivator to the trophied veteran rose lover! For complete details, read more about our Seventh Annual Rose Show.
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Free Rose WallpaperFor a free, monthly high resolution rose wallpaper, subscribe to Marsha's Journal. |
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| Floribunda rose 'International Herald Tribune' with visitor. |
And then, just as loyal readers were beginning to digest this useful background information, BAM! They were hurled into an existential void by the shocking revelation that cutting back to the next group of five leaflets is not necessarily the ideal way to deadhead roses. In fact, this old saw may be a suburban legend on a par with The Poodle in the Microwave, or The Hook.
After spending some quality time bonding with Ben and Jerry and the complete George Jones box set, most of us managed to claw our way out of the abyss. But then we careened right back into it again upon learning that there is no single ironclad rule governing the correct way to deadhead. Instead, each individual rose has its own specific location on the stem that is the optimal site (occasionally referred to as the "good spot", or G-spot) for removing the spent bloom.
Detailed diagrams of the optimal sites of every known rose in existence were not provided, and even though there was no mention that such information would be included on the final exam, many readers panicked. For the next few weeks, Dr. Leda's email box was flooded with high-strung queries bearing such riveting headers as, "Help! Where Exactly Is Gertrude Jekyll's G-Spot?" To which Dr. Leda, ever the cavalier anarchist, replied: Relax. It really doesn't matter.
Now, as soon as everyone has returned from plastering "Question Authority" bumper stickers all over their vehicles, we're going to take a look at why it doesn't matter. But first, let's talk about deadheading without clippers, aka "snapping." That's right, we're going to groom our roses with our bare naked hands! No more clean, precise 45-degree angles. And our role models in this daring adventure are going to be the world's most obsessive-compulsive rose gardeners, the British.
Researchers from both the Royal National Rose Society of England and the Royal Horticultural Society, prestigious organizations that oversee thousands upon thousands of roses (and you thought you had a wee little problem), have scientifically deduced that snapping the spent flower by hand is a luvvly-jubbly way to deadhead.
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| The abscission layer |
Not only can twice as much deadheading be accomplished in half the time (which is a Really Big Deal when you have 6,000 roses), the researchers also discovered that by preserving more tissue, snapping encourages roses to produce more flowering shoots, and quicker. There is also evidence that by not exposing pith, snapping reduces the plant's vulnerability to cane borers.
Our British experts tell us that ideally the dead flower heads should be snapped off at the abscission layer (yes, the place we've been so crassly referring to as the G-spot), a slightly swollen section of the stem anywhere from one to four inches below the base of the bloom.
Left to their own devices, roses will cause this layer to develop within the stem when they decide it's time to cut off nutrients to the hip. Thus, if you were to go on the lam, become incarcerated, or otherwise neglect your deadheading duties for months on end, the abscission layer is the natural breaking point where the stem would eventually separate from the cane to drop the hips in your absence.
Now let's take a look at some of the Frequently Asked Questions anxious readers are likely to have about this alarming new technique.
FAQs About Snapping and Their Reassuring Answers:
Q. But Dr. Leda, what if I can't find the abscission layer?
A. No problemo! Just pinch and snap immediately beneath the base of
the hip. This is probably a bit higher than the abscission layer, so the new
growth will sprout somewhere lower than the place where you snapped, which
is fine. In Dr. Leda's universe, there's more than one G-spot.
Q. After I finish snapping, my rose bush is covered with ugly little twigs where the bare stems stick out. Now what?
A. If the leftover stems bother you, just snip them off with a pair of scissors. If you leave them, they will eventually loosen enough for you to gently knock them off, or they'll finally drop off by themselves. They don't harm the plant, and have no effect on rebloom.
Q. My rose stems seem kind of mushy, and I have to bend them several times before they snap. What am I doing wrong?
A. This is usually a sign that the bush needs more water. If a rose is amply hydrated, the stem should snap easily, with just one flick of the wrist. So a big advantage of snapping is that it tells you when your roses are too dry.
Q. Some of my roses have painful prickles growing right at the bases of the hips. How do I snap these bare-handed without getting thorns embedded in my fingertips?
A. In cases like this, even the most macho rose honcho will forgive you for wearing gloves or using scissors to snip the hips.
Q. How do you snap multi-flowered roses that bloom in large clusters or sprays?
A. I use snapping to remove individual spent blooms from within a cluster, but once the entire spray is spent, I generally use clippers to trim the remainder off just above the next full-sized leaf.
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Clipping a spent spray |
Q. Many of my hybrid tea roses seem to send out new growth at the next five leaflets anyway. I would rather just deadhead these in the traditional manner, which has always worked well for me. Do I really have to use snapping?
A. Of course not. The Royal Horticultural Society is not the boss of you (unless, ahem, you happen to be trespassing in their rose gardens and compulsively grooming their roses). You can deadhead your roses anyway you want to, as long as you and the roses are happy.
Ultimately, there is no final consensus on the ideal way to deadhead roses. The most important thing you can do is pay attention to your roses. Get to know each plant and its particular habits. Observe where the new growth usually comes in, and arrange to remove the flowers above that point. Experiment! Deadhead half a rose bush with clippers, and try snapping on the other half. See which method produces the best rebloom on which rose, and determine how much time you actually save by snapping.
The only absolute, essential, carved-in-stone cardinal truth you must remember when you're deadheading is this: It's Not Brain Surgery. Ok? So relax and enjoy it. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, as long as you get those dead heads off the plant, Bob's your uncle.
