This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Pruning roses this year
I have a large number of roses of various varieties and types and normally prune fairly hard in early March ( I live in North Yorks). This year due to the mild winter, the plants have never really been fully dormant. Some shrub type roses have now put on vigorous new growth, others have never shed all their leaves. Should I go ahead and prune as usual ?. One of my climbers 'Albertine' has not shed any leaves and is forming new growth, I would not prune hard but re-shape, should I do that as well ?
Help ! All advice gratefully recieved - Louise
0
Posts
Albertine is actually a rambler. Ramblers flower on the previous year's wood. You can get away with not pruning for a year, or just tidy up and remove the dead wood. It is recommended to prune ramblers after flowering in late summer, but I find that almost impossible with my Albertines, you can't see what you are doing for leaves, so I do it about now. Cut out the oldest, woodiest stems and tidy it up. You need the new growth for next years flowers.
Shrub roses don't need hard pruning either. The ones to hard prune are hybrid teas.
Thanks for that Pansyface - will get the secateurs out shortly
Thank you Busy-Lizzie, that is a very clear explanation - I don't have any hybrid teas so will go lightly on the shrub roses
I have a similar question about rose pruning - I have inherited some tall hybrid teas (I think) which have lots of new shoots (see photo of the largest which was about 7' high in Summer) - I cut it back by about 2' in the Autumn. Other roses are a bit spindly and only had a couple of blooms. I am wondering how much to prune them - and when? I live near the South coast and it has been quite warm/sunny in the middle of the day but cold at night with some frosts. Most of the roses are in the front, south facing garden, which gets very hot and dry in Summer (sandy soil.) I plan to plant more roses in my newly landscaped split level back garden - which has two raised borders. I read somewhere to prune when Forsythia comes into flower?
Hybrid Teas should be pruned quite hard so that they look something like the one in the photo. Cut out dead wood, stems that cross over and rub each other and spindly stems. Cut at an angle just above an outward facing bud. You can cut down to 6 - 8 inches tall. Floribundas a bit taller, about a foot. David Austin bush roses cut about a third off the height.
In the south you can start in February, in the north in March, but not in a cold spell when it's frosty.
Thanks BL. Would you advise cutting the one in my photo as low as the example in your pic? Some stems are very thick - I would guess the rose is quite a few years old.
If they really are Hybrid Teas (usually have one flower on each stem), then you can cut it low like in my photo and you can also cut out a couple of the thickest, oldest stems to encourage new growth. For Floribundas (clusters of flowers on the stems) then don't cut them so short. Then give them some rose fertiliser. They like a mulch of well rotted manure or compost as well. Pruning and feeding and watering in dry spells will encourage the spindly ones to make more growth.
But I was wondering if the rose in your picture could be "Queen Elizabeth", which is a tall Floribunda and can make 6 - 7 feet tall. If it is, I would prune her to about 2 feet tall. Hybrid teas are generally 2 1/2 feet to 4 feet tall.
I was under the impression that Queen Elizabeth was a pink rose? Mine is more of a deep peachy pink. I will go ahead and prune when the current cold spell has abated. It has been frosty at night the past couple of days. I should know what the tall rose is I suppose, as I do know the difference between floribundas and hybrid teas - this one seems to have one bloom per stem but lots of stems, if you get my drift! I don't think the previous homeowner knew much about rose cultivation. Is it usual for them to grow to such a height or is it purely lack of correct pruning?
Queen Elizabeth is pink. I thought your rose was pink but the photo is a bit dark and sideways on my laptop.
Best advise on rose pruning I've ever come across!! Thank you.