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Am I supposed to deadhead my knockouts? One of my roses had a wonderful flush of flowers, but now I don't see even one more bud. My others have some blooms coming, but not many. Last year they bloomed all summer long.

I seem to remember they weren't suppose to need dead heading, but if I have clippers handy mine get cut back to a 5-leaf.

On that same vein, can/should I prune the Bonica rosa? It had a huge flush of flowers, but now there are just a few, lots of dead ones........

Knockout roses do not NEED deadheading. It certainy won't hurt them if you do. They bloom with a huge flush of flowers and they need time to regenerate new blooms. It might take a little bit of time for that to happen. Some of them do it in a constant stage and some just take a little more time.

I do like SSTR - don't dead head mine unless I am walking around with clippers, then I may snip off a few ugly stems. Forensic is correct, they really don't require deadheading.

Not sure about your Bonica rose. Usually hybrids are pruned during the late winter/very early spring before new growth starts.

ve

Thanks, ladies!

Cynthia, I have a Bonica tree rose. Flowered tremendously this spring and almost broke the main stem. You should cut off the dead roses down to the first five-leaf junction. They will bloom again, but not as heavy as in spring.
Actually Knock-outs are supposed to bloom better if you do not dead head.