Question
QUESTION: Ihave a double knock out 2yr. old bush. it looks extremely hardy & we have to prune it about every 2 mo.for the past mo. the roses have diminished in size to the size of a quarter or less. they had really big bloosomes this spring. Ifertilize with miracle grow. has lots of new reddish green new growth. any suggestion as how to get the roses back to normal size ?? thanks, mary

ANSWER: I don't know where you garden so I can only take a guess at why the rose is not doing well. Pruning a rose every two months, will encourage strong new growth but because the rose bush is making lots of new growth, there is little strength left over for making flowers. The other reason could be that you garden in an area that gets a cold winter and the rose is shutting down for the winter. Most roses will bloom and then rest, so it does all depend on what type of climate you have in regards to how the rose bush re-acts at this time of year.

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QUESTION: the rosebush is on the northwest side of the house in full sun. monett, mo is located in the S.W. part of mo. the rosees started to get smaller about 5-6 wks. ago after blomming profusely. just recently it has started to cooloff in the nights. how often should i be fertilizing the bush ? also when do i start & stop fertilizing the bush ? thanks for any info that may help. mary

Answer
When nights get cool, roses tend to slowdown and take a rest from growing as well as blooming with large flowers so what your roses are doing is natural. Also no rose constantly makes flowers they have to have a rest period in between their flushes. Roses only need fertilizer twice  in a growing season. Even if your winter is warm it always is a good idea to give the roses at least two months rest from blooming. This strengthens the roots and makes it a bigger and better rose bush in the spring. You generally give roses some fertilizer in the spring when you see them putting out new growth and then again in  the summer when they have finished their long bloom period around the end of july. Too much food just makes a lot of green growth and few flowers.