I don't deadhead mine in the heat of summer. Mostly because it's too hot to get out and do it. The roses are going to not look their best anyway, because of the heat, so I figure I might as well use my time outside to so something more productive.

Hello to a fellow Havasuvian! I just planted my first Rose late this spring so I don't know about deadheading them. I started with a Pink Knockout Rose and planted it just as the hot weather started. I was afraid that it wouldn't make it through the summer but it is thriving and looking better than a lot of my more established plants. The Knockouts are self cleaning to they don't need to be deadheaded. The leaves on mine are still green as can be and it is still continuing to bloom through this awful heat.

Roses in our heat tend to go "sorta" dormant. I always get roses with big fat rose hips on them in the summer. I don't dead head in the summer. I just let them do as they wish. Set hips and "sorta" go dormant. About the first or second week in october, I give them a very light pruning. I remove candelabra (most are a result of our summer heat) Very twiggy growth, wimpy blooms. Shortly after that they start putting on nice growth and good blooms again, and you have roses all the way to Christmas. It is generally some time between Christmas and mid January that I prune back my roses hard for the new year.

Easy

If you feel they just look too ratty for you to endure, just pull the dried petals off and leave the hip. Most of my roses are trying like brave little soldiers to bloom, but the buds are miniscule and the 'rose' is about the size of a silver dollar. Or smaller. Pitiful...

If I'm outside gardening or watering, I'll pick the old blooms off of a rose bush while I wait for a planter to fill. My roses are putting out a lot of new growth. Until recently I was still fertilizing (right now It's just too hot to stand outside for long periods of time)... but then they bloom again and the cycle goes on... I don't know what I've done differently than other years but my roses are still putting out large blooms and lots of foliage, of course, I've had these roses for about 10 years or a little less... maybe more established plants do better.
Brittany

Thanks for the input. Some of my roses are also putting out hips. The roses do look like thay are kinda dormant. A Few are still putting out small blooms, the roses that get more shade are trying to put out blooms between the spent stuff.
I guess all we can do in this heat is water, water, water and wait for October.
gosh I can't wait for October, I miss playing with my roses.
Thanks Carrie

I am interested in growing roses for their edible hips. I have read that Rosa Canina (Dogrose) produces the most edible hips in terms of taste and size. However, I doubt that variety would grow here in the desert (Gilbert, Arizona). Any suggestions?

If you can find one, I would try it in a place that gets morning sun but is well shaded in the afternoon. Plant it in the fall so it would get a good root system before next summers heat arrives or possible in a large pot with castors so you can move it into a shady place when necessary. Good luck and let us know how you do.

Pam

I deadhead my roses year round. I hadn't heard to not deadhead them in the summer. I also go a step further and pinch the buds off of a lot of my plants especially the young plants. In the book "Roses in a Desert Garden" by Hallie Beck, she recommends pinching the buds on new plants to encourage root production. So what the heck by pinching the buds maybe it helps the plants, the flowers on a lot of the plants don't look their best in the summer time anyway.