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how to prune a new dawn climber...

11 years ago

hello to all of u.my first time here.i have a new dawn climbing rose going up a post on an arbor.what is the best way to prune this climber?it is getting older,all the canes went up the arbor to the overhead slats on it.so almost all the flowers were up there and we couldn't see them.so we cut the canes back to the top of the post,probabley about 8-10 feet high.was that correct to do?also how should i prune the side branches?i want to be able to see the flowers and not have it grow up on top of the arbor.any help would be greatly appreciated.i am clueless on how to take care of this rose.thank you

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Comments (6)

michaelg
11 years ago
With climbers more than 4 years old, it is good practice to take out some entire canes each year. Take out the oldest 1/3 of the canes at the base. This helps to control size; also, with most varieties, canes are most productive when they are two and three years old. This kind of pruning is traditionally done right after the spring flush of bloom is finished.

If your arbor is only, say, 4' wide and 2' deep or long, it is way too small for New Dawn; the best thing would be to remove it now and plant a smaller climber such as Renae, also light pink, but much less vigorous and thorny.

As long as stems are nearly vertical, roses will bloom only at the top of the plant. To get bloom further down, you have to train canes semi-horizontally (45 degrees or flatter). If your arbor is deep (long), you can do that on the sides; if not, use the upper faces of the arch as much as possible.

Just cutting the canes back as you have done can produce some lower bloom only provided it is done about six weeks before the spring flush of bloom normally occurs. At other times it will result in lots of long canes developing.
catsrose
11 years ago
New Dawn is not a mannerly climber--nor a kind one, as she is very thorny. Left to herself, she will easily grow 15' wide and nearly as tall. You will spend your life cutting her back. As Michael said, unless you have her on a very large arbor, I'd move her while you still can. There are a great many other roses that will do a better job.
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Of COURSE ignorance and lack of research have kept ND a popular rose. That's how the vast majority of the rose buying public actually buys their roses! But around here the reason it sells well is because there are so many out there in neighborhoods looking wonderful and people see it and want it. It's that simple. Now, I also have a theory why in my area there are so many ND and not many examples of other things. In the early 80s we had a several nights in a row well below zero and it wiped out all the teas and other warm weather roses that can do well here. ND is hardy a couple zones colder than most teas and it was still early in the general interest of Old Roses. I suspect many that were lost were unidentified and/or unavailable commercially even if you knew what they were. So they weren't for the most part replaced. But the ND lived on. As to why I have them by those doorways? We don't use those doors--they are mainly for show. A hallway is on the other side and stray cane blooming on the other side of the window is a pretty lovely thing to see as you walk down that hallway. An quite frankly it's a perennial garden and it's just not that big of a deal to whack it back when needed. And I can whack it back and not worry if I've hurt it feelings or if it's going to sulk. It can completely defoliate from rose slugs and a few weeks later be back in business. Considering all the temperamental, fragile, accident prone roses out there, there is always going to be a market for a robust one. Don't get me wrong there are things I don't like about it and since I bought them I've discovered other possibilities that might be as good or better and I've considered replacing them. But if I replace them it won't be because of their exuberance!
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I have new dawn and itgre to a whopping 20 feet tall and about the same wide up our gazzibo in two years. it is two stories tall. what a beautiful rose. too bad it only blooms once for me... For those climbers unless you want to train them to grow a certain shape or keep them from just growing all over your fence, just cut back dead wood. I pull all the old leaves and blooms from all my roses. I may be sorry for that with my moss roses, but nothing died and all is looking full with leaves sept. my mosses but I think they like my apothicary are late starters. clean out around the base and fertilize with with something like pansy popper or mum pooper , something for lots of blooms second number big! 17-30-15 you will get lots of roses Here is a link that might be useful: my roses
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Hm-m-m-m, my New Dawn is leafing out but did have more dieback than normal. I had to prune it pretty far back. I say give it a little more time as it may show signs of life at the base. I presume you had planted it with the bud union buried 4-6 inches deep or it was an own root plant? If not, and the bud union is above ground, it may have bit the dust. In our areas we need to begin winter protection when we first plant.
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Thanks everybody! I'm pretty tickled as these are my first roses. The trellis' are 3/8" thick steel and they are the scrap pieces left when smaller squares of steel plate were cut from it. I have a local metal worker who after paying the bills with boring stuff is a found object artist and he had the pieces lying around. He simply welded the side rails on them and we stuck them over 3 feet deep into the ground. They are about 8" from the wall which it concrete hardi-board. So it's about as sturdy and indestructible as you can make something. I hope. If anybody is in the area (Mid TN) I'd be happy to send you his contact--these are one of a kinds but he's brilliant, creative and pretty affordable. The roses are now about 7'. I have almost 35 feet from side to side for them to spread, 12 feet from the ground to the top of the roofs and the range for them I've read is 10-20 feet. Surely that's enough space? If it isn't and I'm lucky enough that the RRD doesn't get them first I guess I'll chalk it up to a learning experience and whack her back! So my plan will be to let the big new canes work themselves on up toward the roofs, let the older canes fill out the top of the trellis and keep tucking the strays back on to the trellis. Perfect. Fortunately the doors are not heavy traffic ones so maybe we can keep the shredded clothes to a minimum. She does have some serious thorns and a bit of an attitude! ;-) Any suggestions for gloves? Thanks to everybody here. I'd have never figured out any of this without the pointers and advice. I've got 8 bands in pots out in the kitchen garden so I'm counting on you!!
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susan4952
11 years ago
Should rename her Godzilla. She is a monster!
woollady
Original Author
11 years ago
hello to all,thank you so much for your replies.lots of good info here.feel like i might be able to get her straightened out.new dawn might be a monster but i really lke this one's color.thanks you all are fantastic!
catsrose
11 years ago
You've been warned....
eahamel
11 years ago
I've had New Dawn for years, and can vouch for the thorniness! And the blooming has really decreased in the last few years, and I learned that this happens when it ages. So late last year I decided to take it out, and cut canes off at the ground and carefully removed what I could (it was growing through a fence and some of the monster canes were in the neighbor's yard). Well, it's started coming out again from the roots! I've decided to leave it and see if it will bloom a lot again, since it's basically starting over. But Catsrose is right, there are better, smaller, less thorny pink climbers.

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