Getting it to bloom

Why won't my Cinco de Mayo Rose bloom? (and how to make it flower)

Also called Cinco de Mayo, WEKcitrusp (Rosa 'Cinco de Mayo').

More about cinco de mayo rose

About Cinco de Mayo Rose

Rosa 'Cinco de Mayo' · also called Cinco de Mayo, WEKcitrusp · flowering

Cinco de Mayo is a floribunda rose from Weeks Roses, a 2009 All-America Rose Selections winner, celebrated for its unusual smoky lavender and rusty russet-orange blooms borne in clusters. Compact, bushy, and exceptionally disease-resistant, it flowers prolifically all season with a light sweet-apple fragrance, making it a standout for beds and borders.

Plant type: flowering

Watch for — Aphids: Colonies on new buds and shoots in spring; wash off with water or use insecticidal soap before they cause distortion.

The reasons cinco de mayo rose isn't blooming

Almost every non-blooming cinco de mayo rose traces back to one of these, roughly in order of how common they are:

Pruned at the wrong time or too hard, removing the wood the flowers would have come from.
The plant is still too young or was cut back hard and is rebuilding rather than flowering.
Too little sun — most flowering shrubs need several hours of direct light to bloom well.
Excess nitrogen (often from lawn feed nearby) pushing leafy growth over flowers.
Drought or root stress at the bud-forming time, so buds abort.

Pruning cinco de mayo rose at the wrong time and cutting off the wood that carries the flowers — the most common reason a healthy shrub never blooms.

The fix — how to get cinco de mayo rose to flower

Prune at the correct time. Find out whether cinco de mayo rose flowers on old or new wood, then prune only at the time that does not remove the flowering wood.
Protect the buds. Avoid hard cuts and protect developing buds from late frost and drought stress.
Give it sun and the right feed. Site it in good light and use a balanced or higher-potassium feed — not a high-nitrogen one — to favour flowers.
Let it mature. Give a young or hard-pruned plant a year or two to build flowering wood before expecting a full display.

Light and feeding do most of the heavy lifting here. Dial in the spot with the light guide for cinco de mayo rose and get the feeding right with the cinco de mayo rose fertilising schedule — the wrong feed (too much nitrogen) is one of the most common silent reasons a healthy plant makes leaves instead of flowers.

Bloom season and what to expect

Cinco de Mayo Rose flowers in its established season — typically late spring through summer for a mature, correctly pruned plant — with the display improving year on year once it settles.

Post-bloom care so it flowers again

Deadhead (or leave seed heads where they protect buds), feed after flowering, and time any pruning to the plant's wood type so next year's flowers are not cut away.

For everything else this plant needs day to day, see the full cinco de mayo rose care brief and its watering schedule — a stressed, badly watered plant rarely has the energy to flower at all.

Cinco de Mayo Rose blooming — frequently asked questions

Why won't my cinco de mayo rose flower?

Cinco de Mayo Rose flowers on growth from a particular season — getting blooms depends on the plant being mature and on pruning at the RIGHT time so you don't remove the flowering wood. The most common reason it is not happening: Pruned at the wrong time or too hard, removing the wood the flowers would have come from.

How do I make cinco de mayo rose bloom?

Find out whether cinco de mayo rose flowers on old or new wood, then prune only at the time that does not remove the flowering wood. Avoid hard cuts and protect developing buds from late frost and drought stress.

When does cinco de mayo rose normally bloom?