This year my roses are a good bit later to come into full bloom. The cold snap in May undoubtedly caused problems.

A white rugarosa type had all the buds ‘browned off’ by a late frost and guess what colour that left me  -  ‘browned off too’!

Tips for June

• Deadhead repeat flowering roses to get a second flush. Flowering may stop when seed is set.
• Cut above the first leaf node and angled away from the leaf.
• Do not deadhead roses you grow for the hips such as Rugarosa types.
• If you have any blackspot wash your secateurs between each plant to avoid spreading the disease.
• Check for suckers, track them back to the roots and pull them off neatly. Cutting them may leave a bit of sucker and you will get two suckers from that one spot.
• If you are troubled by Aphids, and who isn’t, then use your favourite treatment. I have just organically squashed quite a large crop on the buds of my climber roses.

Getting Bigger Blossoms

• If exceptional blooms are required nip out the side buds and leave one bud per stem to develop fully. All the energy gets channeled this way.
• If the central bud is damaged sacrifice it and leave another bud to develop in its place.
• If, post pruning, you get too many new shoots it is inadvisable to let them grow too thickly, so thin them out. The aim is to allow plenty of air and sunlight into the centre of the rose.
• Sacrificing some shoots will put energy into the remaining blooms.
• In June, roses still need nitrogen rich fertilizer for stem and leaf growth.
• Cut flowers for the vase freely. From hybrid tea roses chose long stems. The rose will produce a new flower stem and it is better to have a flower in the house than bleached, blown, blossom.
• Hoe around the rose to remove weeds, water if needed and mulch to keep the shrub healthy.
• Pick roses early in the morning when they will have taken up moisture during the night. Dunk into tepid water immediately and recut at 45 degrees when rearranging them.
• Add a drop of bleach to keep the water fresh and free from bacteria.