If you are someone who loves the beauty and scent of roses, you might be wondering how long it takes before a rose bush blooms. There are actually a few different answers to this question. Let’s take a look:

Watching a rose grow from a plant into a bud, and then seeing the color poking out is very exciting. Though, actually sitting there and watching them takes a lot of patience. In general, it takes about two weeks before a bud becomes a full rose.

There are more than 6,000 different types of roses, and really, they all can bloom at different times. However, that two-week mark is a good average. The good thing is that a rose bush typically blooms throughout the year.

The Blooming Rose Bush: Beginning Growth

Generally, a rose bush follows a cycle throughout the season that defines the time that it takes for the flowers pop out of the buds. This is called the bloom cycle, and it is defined as the full time it takes for the rose to grow.

In most cases, depending on the type of rose you have, this full cycle takes from six to eight weeks. Remember, two of these weeks is taken up by the bud forming into the flower.

Some roses will bloom throughout the year, as mentioned above, but you may have to help the plant by deadheading, or cutting off the spent rose, to begin a new cycle.

You have to deadhead the roses in order to push this cycle to begin.

In addition to this, you can get even showier and healthier roses by fertilizing them in in first parts of the cycle. During these first weeks of growth, you should give them a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen.

There are specific rose fertilizers that are available on the market that are perfectly balanced for these beauties.

The Next Steps of Growth

Around two to four weeks after growth begins, you will start to see buds growing on the roses. When you see these, it’s important to stop giving the roses fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. Instead, switch to one that has more phosphorus.

Phosphorus will help to make the blooms larger. To do even more, you can go through the rose bush and cut away any of the buds that are small or weak-looking. This will allow the healthy, large buds to thrive.

Called “disbudding”, the practice is used to create the type of stem you want on your roses. For example, if you want a rose and a stem, you will choose a single bud that is large, healthy, and strong.

If you would rather have a spray of roses, you should remove the largest bud, and then allow the smaller buds to grow. By removing the large buds, the small ones get more nutrients and energy.

Caring for the Blooms

By 4 to 6 weeks after the first signs of growth appear, you should have roses. You no longer need fertilizer, but you should cut back any growth that might be stopping the roses from spreading. Once they appear, blooms will last for an additional two weeks.

Remember, if you want to keep the rose bush blooming throughout the season, you want to cut away the spent buds, and the plant will begin growing more flowers.

Of course, you can always cut the flowers for bouquets or put in a vase. Once cut, most roses last from four to seven days.

Once you start to see the formation of rose hips, you should let them form. This is signaling that it is time for the rose bush to go into dormancy for the winter.

Tips for Better Rose Growth

Now that you know how long it takes for roses to bloom, you might want some tips on how to help your roses grow large and beautiful:

Banana Peels

Bananas are high in phosphorus, which a rose requires to grow large blooms. So, you can chop up banana peels and put them directly into the soil. Alternatively, you can boil banana peels, allow the water to cool, and then use the water to water the roses.

Pruning

Roses have a tendency to grow out of control sometimes. So, you have to prune them in order to maintain the growth. You should do a thorough pruning every year in the spring and cut the rose bush down.

Mulching

Finally, you want to make sure that you are covering your roses with mulch. This helps you to maintain the right amount of moisture in the soil and helps to keep diseases at bay. You should apply mulch each year.

This is only a small amount of information that can help you grow the best-looking roses, but by doing this, even if you are a beginner, you can grow gorgeous flowers.