Hybrid teas are the model. When a hybrid tea flower is spent. The dead head cut is made above a node whose leaf directly below it has minimally, 5 nice sized leaflets on it. If the stem there is not minimally pencil thick, proceed down the stem until that thickness is reached, then make the described cut there.

In 45 days if the rose is given good care and the weather is favorable, a flower should be opening from the stem that grew from the dead head cut made 45 days earlier.

In few words: It takes 45 days for a new bloom to appear on a stem that grew from the node at the dead head cut of a spent bloom.

This rule is not chiseled in stone. It applies to most hybrid teas growing under prime conditions. Other classes have different rates of refreshing blooms from dead head cuts.

Moses

thank you, moses. does anyone know if the same timing applies to delaying the first flowering of the year? there are no spent blooms yet, and most of the new buds are on stems thinner than pencils? i know it is possible to synchronize first flowering because commercial nurseries do this for their open houses, but i'm not sure how they do it.

also, i mostly grow david austins rather than hybrid teas. thank you again.

I hope someone else lends a hand with advice. Someone with direct experience growing roses in the Bay Area, and/or having delayed or hastened blooming to coordinate with a special event. I don't even grow Austin's anymore, sorry.

Moses

You could ask the David Austin Roses company.