Is it ok to cut roses and put in vase?

[cheekygeeky]

We moved house last year and I inherited loads of beautiful rose bushes. The Roses have bloomed and are stunning. My gut instinct tells me to cut some off to put in the kitchen but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm worried they might not grow back next year. But it's so sad to see them starting to drop and die.

What does everyone else do? In my last house I had one rose bush and never cut the flowers off.

Definitely cut some! Do it after 3pm and leave 3 leaves on each stem to feed the plant. (My Granny's advice)

A real gardener may come along and say different. I am remembering this from when I was 8!

Cut them and enjoy them indoors and out. They will definitely grow back.
I have 2 beautifully scented rose bushes that were in my garden before I arrived 20+ years ago and it doesn't matter how hard I cut them back, they always return

Whenever I've done it we were over run with earwigs! (Grew back fine though)

YY to earwigs. Pesky.

Definitely cut them and enjoy them inside.
Any that you leave, when they die cut them back- that's dead heading. Any 'blind' straggly bits with no buds on them, cut back, I think you want branches with 7 not 9 leaves. Definitely more leaves/ long branches is not good.
I too inherited a garden- full of mauve and yellow roses, and although they're not to my taste I'm proud that I've kept them going.

When you cut them, also look at the overall shape of the bush.

Most roses are tougher than they look and they will survive your first flower cutting and pruning.

I'm a novice so thanks for the advice. Is it better to get a gardener in to prune everything in my massive garden a few times a year? I'm worried I'm not doing enough to keep it all going.

I've tried online research into what all the different plants are but it's very time consuming and I'm very slow.

I'm a crap gardener but I've kept the roses healthy and blooming well for 7 years by regular deadheading, the odd 10 minutes weekly and occasional fierce cutting back. I'd say it's a do it your self job as the key is little and often rather than occasional blitzing.

I'll post some pictures after work .

cheekygeeky

It's best to do very little to a garden in the first year, so you can see what's there and what it does. Making changes is better done on a slow, evolutionary approach, especially if you're not sure what the plants are, how they grow and what care they need (and when).

I think it could be a good idea to hire a gardener for an autumn and a spring tidy up (on the basis that a professionals should know what to do and when to keep things under control). Then you learn in your own time about what to do to keep the existing garden in shape (by observing the professional, and by reading up yourself and trying things out) and you can then adjust the hired help over time.

Do cut them and enjoy them. We have roses blooming for months and months because we cut them. The plant diverts its energy into growing new blooms rather than maintaining those you cut.

I love this time of year (if it's not too wet!) as the flowers I've planted are coming out again. Shows I didn't kill them!

(The tomatoes are doing very badly atm and I don't know why, though. I'm a crap and ignorant gardener, really )

Oh thank you so much. You've been so helpful. We have a large area covered in plants and flower bushes which we originally thought we would just extend the patio over as we are not green fingered. But as they all started blossoming over spring we have fallen in love with all the beautiful plants. Every week it changed, something dies and something new seems to bloom. It's beautiful. Thanks for the advice.

I just don't understand the whole cutting roses thing and feel ignorant.

You mean, just cut the bit before the rose, so it leaves a stem, and it will grow back the next year? What if, in theory, you cut the rose a foot from the root? Would that grow back into the same rose bush in time?

Tree branches are another thing I just don't get. If you saw off a thick side branch of an oak tree, it stays sawn off, like if you cut off your leg. What about other trees, with long branches hanging over the lawn? If you saw it off, is that it, gone for good? Does the tree continue to grow, but just upwards? Which branches are like cutting hair or nails, while others are like removing a limb?

Cut the stem, and the energy the plant has been sending into that stem and flower will be sent to another. Either to another bud which will flower, or into a shoot elsewhere which will grow and bud and flower. I don't know about cutting a foot from the root, but we once cut a massive bush down to a stump (not a rose, just a big ugly green thing) and the following year there were hundred of tiny little new shoots growing out of the stump.

It is quite hard to kill plants altogether. They might sulk for a year or two......

Well I've done. Lobbed the roses off after 3p and put them straight into water. Felt soooo wrong but have my fingers crossed they will re - bloom (I realise that's probably not a bona fide gardening term)

It is lovely to have scented roses indoors. When they fade you can have the petals for pot pourri.
As suggested above, dead head regularly (with trug, floppy hat, summer dress, optional) with good clean secateurs. Bin any leaves with spots.
When cutting for the house I like to choose a little bunch with buds and flowers. Stems about 6 ins long are good.

I have a question to seasoned gardeners. I read somewhere years and years ago, that you should bash the ends of cut roses and dissolve an aspirin into their water. I do the first but not the second. Do either of those things make a difference?

Btw, I love the delicacy of dead flowers. If you let the water in the vase dry out, the flowers dessicate and turn beautiful delicate shades of their original colours. They are very fragile and I spray them with hair spray and keep them, sometimes for years. I still have a rose from when my mum died over 3 years ago. I suppose it's my version of twiggy things!

Is deadheading simply removing the dead head or should you cut further down the stem?

cheeky it depends whether you are cutting off a dead flower from a bunch of buds, (a delicate op), or a whole set of gone over flower heads (a cluster).
If deadheading a whole cluster then cut off just above the next node down, slanting the secateurs a little bit so that sap and water runs away from the cut off edge.
Some experts cut off quite a long stem to give the bush a better shape as required.

www.wikihow.com/Deadhead-Roses

lady with nice voice
www.videojug.com/film/how-to-dead-head-roses

Lovely thanks. Quick update. I cut off some nearly dead roses and put them in a vase asap. They seemed to revive and are still in my kitchen smelling amazing. Thanks for the advice everyone.