Anita, I keep reminding myself to get a tetanus shot AFTER I have a rose confrontation. When I dealt with Mme Caroline Testout, Cl a few months ago, DH gave me a face shield to wear. I wear glasses and still have gotten a cane in the eye by going straight down on it (still don't know how it managed to get through), so I don't usually worry about my eyes. But I was quaking in such fear of MCT's long fiercely armed canes that DH was concerned. It worked well and wasn't much of an encumbrance. If you have Harbour Freight, they probably have them. They're plastic attached to an adjustable head ring. I like the Scaniello's glove idea. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Here's a link we all need to pay attention to.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose thorn infection

I was putting compost and mulch under my climbing Cecille Brunner recently when my young son started screaming. I got up quickly to see what was going on forgetting about huge canes overhead. I got a couple of prickles lodged in the back of my head. I waited several hours for my husband to come back from work to examine my head, take out the prickles and apply neosporin. I think my CB will have to live with no care from now on:-)

Masha

I grow New Dawn/Dr. Van Fleet (not totally sure which it is), but even though I adore its stripy flowers I doubt I will ever grow 4th of July, and when $$ is free enough I will probably replace City of York.

I have my thorn limits...... :)

too right - and not only is there blood and pain but then they get nastily infected too. I have a thickish canvas jacket which is good as fleece or wool are just ridiculous. Also, I wear gardening gloves which are rubber across the palm and ends of fingers and knitted cotton jersey on the back- thorns don't easily pierce the rubber but importantly, I can do very fine work without removing them - this is impossible with conventional rose leather gauntlets. Sherry, you are so right - eye protection is essential - i just have basic builders goggles - useful when strimming too.
Cemetry - sympathies - i only have a couple of dozen roses (and some vicious blackberries) so it must be a trial for you working with them. Still, you could be stuck in an office, i guess.

Anita, your post made me smile because now that its the dead of winter and I am missing my roses, reading your post reminded me that its nice to be scratch-free! Wintertime is the only time my skin isn't covered in scratches, scabs, and inbedded thorns. No matter how careful I try to be, wearing all the right 'combat' gear, I still haven't figured out how to work with my roses and not shed blood. I am often questioned as to why my cats attacked me so viciously, and when I proceed to explain that its not my cats, but all my hundreds of roses, people just shake their heads like only a crazy person would intentionally have a hobby where bloodshed is a requirement.

The past couple of summers I have had weddings in my family where I had to wear strapless dresses, and talk about feeling awkward. Every scratch, puncture wound, and scar was on display for all to see. The worst thing is that scars on me don't heal well because I form keloids so even years later there is still evidence of my rose battles.

I really 'get into' working with my roses and I suppose I could be more cautious but scratches come with the job.
Short of giving up on roses and starting a stamp collection, I don't see how I can have hundreds of roses and not get injured. Kind of reminds me of relationships....you can't get hurt if you never love. The more you love, the greater your chance of getting hurt.
Judging by all the scars on my body, I really love my roses!

Celeste

Most of the time I can't be bothered to wear gloves and I've had my share of embedded thorns, but a lot of my scratches are on my legs because I stop paying attention when I'm really engrossed with my roses. The rose that I really hated with a passion, fortunately at a previous domicile, was Phyllis Bide, which had truly nasty small thorns. She also looked lousy most of the time, with washed-out blooms. I was surprised to read in several places that she was almost thornless and yet I know mine was the correct rose. I suspect things will get a lot worse in my present garden when the roses mature but at this point I'm just so thrilled that my thorns have roses.

Ingrid

Like you, I always head out to the garden in gloves. I'm also wearing long sleeves (denim or twill shirts are the best) and long pants, and I usually wear my glasses for eye protection. I don't really need them for this kind of work, but I wear them as a precaution. It's never very long before the gloves come off so I can tie up roses or pull weeds. Unless it is a thorny weed I always weed bare handed. I weed by the sense of touch. The finest, thinnest gloves are not thin enough, and anyway, they don't protect me from thorns. I put the gloves back on several times during a session, but there is a good deal of time when they are off.

So yes, I keep up to date on my tetanus shots, especially since I do use composted horse manure, and the former owners of this property kept horses. And I try to be sure I get all my thorns out, though of course I cannot be sure. And if I ever get a bad reaction to a rose injury, I'll get straight to the doctor.

I expect it helps a little bit if you space your roses further apart. Just a little. At least you can get to the one you're working on without being attacked by a different rose

Rosefolly

I resorted to using a ~ 2 to 3 foot long single handled secateurs/pruner that has a trigger handle for my spring cleanup, made by corona. It will be too light duty for California roses unless all your doing is 1/2 inch or less canes - but works wonders for me ... don't have to bend down much, have a 2 to 3 foot reach and it keeps me away from the thorns and holds the cane after cutting.

Actually if somebody focused on beefing it up but retaining lightness it is probably one of the best innovations I have come across for real coarse pruning. If you a perfectionist on cut angle and close you will have to work at it.

Problem is some times I have to get up close and personal with the rose bush then it is construction gloves or light duty rubberized palm gloves and an old leather jacket. I wear glasses so gouging my eye out is not an issue.

This post is a little sad, a little funny, and all true.

I also wear glasses, and am very glad because they have saved my eyes a few times. Unfortunately, here in hot Texas I never wear a jacket, or even long sleeves to work in the garden. Usually it's shorts and a tank top. So, yes, I'm tired of getting scratched. I do like goat skin gloves, they help.

The bad thing around here is we have wild briars everwhere, so I'm usually crawling under roses trying to avoid the thorns just to wrap my hands around a thorny briar! Ouch! Fortunately, I live in the country, so no one sees me throwing a fit when I can't get a thorn (or even a whole bush) to let loose!

Anita, if the fingers are too long for you, cut the danged things off like Steven did. You'll still get "blood tests" but not as badly as without gloves. Ballerina is as terrible as The Fairy, and just as mildewy. Hate them both, not in my garden anymore, but both are in multiple clients' gardens. A real fix is to replace them with thornless climbers, if you are in a suitable climate. May I suggest you look at my Annie Laurie McDowell? We race each other to see which one can finish first and claim cleaning her each week. Lovely! Kim

Funny that this thread is here because I have just come in from pruning some roses (the pruning target date here is Feb. 14th but I just got tired of waiting). It is warm enough to wear short sleeves but I didn't dare - and got torn up anyway through my cotton shirt (may as well have had on a short sleeve shirt and been more comfortable). I couldn't wait to get out and begin but it wasn't long at all before I was wondering why the heck I had been so all fired up to get out there.

My hat kept getting ripped from my head and left dangling from the branches and when I would get up from bending down inside the bush my shirt would get hung up on thorns and would be pulled up practically off my body......I'm sure my neighbors if they were watching, were getting quite a laugh.....

When I went to toss aside a branch (after retrieving my hat and putting my shirt back on), it would get caught on my shirt sleeve and boomerang back in my face. Arrgh! Another comic act for the neighbors!

Lynn

Luckily I have decided to just not prune my roses this year, which is no big deal because most of them are very young. The older ones are getting deadheaded and that's it. However, other that getting caned in the eyes (which I had never thought about before so thank God for this thread now I am aware), I don't care all that much about the blood and the scratches. Embedded thorns are really annoying, though, I'll give you that.

Talk about laughing neighbors, when I was working on MCT, several times when I found myself "in the middle" of the canes and attached, all I could think to do was a 360 degree turn in place to unwind myself out of it. It wasn't 100% effective but better than trying to disconnect each prickle only to have another grab on before I could move on to the next one. Free shows for the neighbors are part of gardening, right?

Sherry

When shopping, the "Thornless or Near Thornless" list gets looked at first, and the description "armed with thorns" makes me say, "Next!"

People look at my hands and arms and ask me how many cats I own. (Zero). And my clothes are full of holes, because I've lost all patience for backing up and unhooking myself, so I just keep going and let the clothes tear. And yes safety goggles have saved my sight, I'm sure.

Yet I still love roses!

Come to think of it, last year when I was pruning 'Crepuscule', I was about half way though and started wondering, "Why is this so much fun? Why is this rose so easy? Why am I so relaxed and happy doing this?" Then I remembered that 'Crepuscule' has no prickles. (At least mine doesn't--there are perhaps two or three down at the very base of the plant, but who prunes the base of the plant.)

To relax I just walk down the hill to the wild blackberry tangle and throw myself in.

LOL!! :)

is Tausendsch (German for "Thousand beauties").

I prune it into a free-standing shrub rather than use it as a climber.

I have my rose clothes I wear that are snagged and torn. Can't recall how many sweaters I've snagged on thorns or other clothing items that roses bit. I remember a bad prick from a thorn on the back of my hand that throbbed so badly. I put that hand on my head to keep the throbbing down while I kept pruning away with the other. Family thought I was nuts. Pulling weeds out of minis can be like reaching in a cactus patch. I got some long pliers and it helps somewhat. Sometimes I tie the roses in front up with tarps and clothesline while I prune the climbers behind them.

The gloves to get are Nitril-I think that is how it is spelt-they have a solid palm and the back is knit as Campanula described-but not the Latex ones-Nitril fits your hands wonderfully well....they come in all sizes right down to really small and you can even get gloves that have long fingers and small palms(me). There are lots of brands. We have Turfking around here. Garden stores have them and Farm supplies. They beat the socks off goatskin. They dont look it but are amazingly tough and will last more than one season which is saying something and you can wash them but they dont have long gauntlets...my least favorite thing is getting my hair caught. I'm normally an even, temperate sort of person until I get stabbed in the head or get my considerable hair tangled into some @#%$^%$# rose..then I hate roses and wonder what I am thinking of growing so many of the stupid things. Thats one of the reasons I like Gallicas-they usually have just bristles.

patricia

Usually, I have most of my ramblers pruned and trained by now. We get a few warm days in January, and it is the perfect time to don the proper gear and get the job done. (With our unseasonably wet/snowy winter, I haven't done a thing yet this year) Thorny? Come visit and I'll introduce you to Albertine.

My hands are fairly small, but my fingers are freakishly long, so it's always a challenge to find gloves that fit. I have a pair of Bionic gauntlets that I love for this kind of pruning. Otherwise, I wear West County, or deer skin, or goat skin, or whatever I can find two of in the garage at the time. Long sleeves and long pants are a must, no matter what the weather. I have shop glasses with bifocals now, so I can wear proper eye protection and still see what I'm doing.

Two years ago, my husband bought me the best tool in the world for tying climbers. It's called a Max Tapener and it's what they use next door at the winery to trellis their vines. No more fumbling with bits of string ... this thing is the BEST, and I recommend it to everyone.

I did a blog post last year about using this tool to tie my ramblers to the fence. It has photos, if you want to see how it works.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: Blog post about tying tool

as a jobbing gardener, what makes my heart sink even more than the nastiest thorns are hollies. Kneeling underneath old hollies to weed amongst the dry vicious leaves is the worst job (well, not as bad as clearing dog poo before I mow grass). I would only ever grow a smooth leaved holly such as JC Van Tol. Worse, the birds ensure that they seed everywhere. At least we have the pleasure of roses but gloomy old hollies - meh!

Actually, at the moment I'm happy to be being scratched. I've been pruning! The sun shone today! The air was warm and the snow was melting! This has been a cold, wet, gray, miserable winter, but today was clear and warm, i.e., it got up into the fifties, and I was so happy to head out midmorning with my pruners and leather gloves, with the rubber ones in my pockets if I wanted to weed. The rubber gloves are preferable for most garden tasks, as they're waterproof, cheap, and no animals are killed to make them, but for pruning the leather gloves save me a great deal of misery. I almost always wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts in the garden, certainly this time of year, and I wear glasses. Sometimes I get my hair caught: it's long but braided and pinned in a knot, fine until I snag it in a rose. I think I ought to get some of those bandannas I wore during Seventies.
It was such a pleasure to work on my once-blooming old roses and see how they've been doing, especially since the Teas are quite a dismaying sight after all the cold. I really enjoyed being out and spending time with these beautiful creatures. No complaints about the thorns.
Melissa

At least we have the pleasure of roses but gloomy old hollies - meh!

There aren't as many of them as there are of rose enthusiasts, but you can find a whole tribe of American holly fanatics, if you hunt for them...... :)

And yes, the English holly is highly prized here, and yes, those leaves are EVIL! American holly is no better!

I prefer the thornless, deciduous winterberry ({{gwi:228784}}).

I've been reading this thread alternatively laughing and wincing. Carol, your idea of roses as attractive vampires is hysterical.

A leather jacket is a good idea. I wear a waterproof cowboy hat, which fits snugly on my head and rarely gets snagged on a bush - its brim protects my face somewhat, too. Berndoodle recommended that.

One time when I didn't have the hat on, I had a Le Pactole thorn stuck in my hairline - when I pulled it out, blood streamed down my face. There were some city managers gathered at the cemetery's front gate, and I made quite an impression as I rushed to the bathroom. We have joked that we should dress up for Halloween as rose garden volunteers, with leaves, twigs, dirt, scratches and blood all over us, and our clothing snagged and torn. We'd be pretty scary in those costumes!

One of the reasons I cut my hair is that I got tired of it getting tangled into a rose.

I will check out some of the tools and gloves. Connie, the tying tool sounds interesting, and I love your blog. I've seen those trigger-handled secateurs, but never tried them. A face shield is a good idea, and would make my husband happy.

I have nitrile gloves, but find that big thorns still go through them and the backs snag badly and offer no protection. They're better than nothing, of course, and they are comfortable enough that I forget they are on. I stopped wearing them when I got West County rose gloves - they wore out and I've been using the goatskin ones. One of our volunteers wears West County rose gloves with nitrile gloves beneath them. West County's women's gloves have shorter fingers and nice, wide gauntlets, so I should get another pair. I have thought of sewing the fingers shorter on the goatskin gloves - cutting off the thumb and forefinger would be easier.

We use a Fiskars pruning stick to get some of the coarse pruning done. We have problems with weed trees growing through the roses in the cemetery, and using the stick saves us from crawling though something like Russelliana to cut out an errant elm. My first stick broke, and the good people at Fiskars replaced it, no questions asked.

In the cemetery, we usually have one person hold the cane in place, while another ties. At home, it's just me. I do a lot of training and tying in my yard, because I don't have much space - for example, I tie Crested Moss around a tripod, getting a lot of bloom and a beautiful shape. Its needle-like prickles don't snag and hold, just prick, but I've worked on this rose with tears running down my cheeks.

I am not a masochist in any other aspect of my life...

I've still got a big thorn stuck in my hand and need to get serious about getting it out. Sherry, the info about rose infections is a good reminder. I do have a current tetanus shot, at least.

I really should grow Kim's Annie Lauri McDowell. Paul Zimmerman recommends Kathleen Harrup, too.
Anita

Here is a link that might be useful: Fiskars Pruning Stik

I haven't been around the Forum for some time, but I would like to add that while I have no cure for not getting stuck; you all seem to have it 'covered' with your clothes. I would like to suggest the best first-aid for a stab from the roses. Keep a bottle of Listerine handy and apply right away. It will take a lot of the sting out, clean it up and begin to heal. After that you can use Neosporin when you are finished with your yard work.

Slightly OT, but is Kathleen Harrop any more disease-resistant than Zephirine Drouhin (or the other Bourbons), especially with regards to black spot?

Wrong thread! My apologies.

Please disregard my question as I've reposted it on the thread I was thinking about (the thread about thornless climbers in PA).

Kathleen Harrop's main difference from the awful Zepherine is flower color. In the inland valley areas of SoCal, she rusts and mildews with a vengence. Thornless? Yes. "Good"? NOT in my estimation in these climates around here. Personally, based upon what I have encountered of her here, the ONLY reason she has survived in commerce is nothing else has come along as prickle free the "big boys" can sell without paying royalties. I had both of them at Limberlost Roses years ago. They were both awful there and have been everywhere else around here I've seen them.

What I really hate is constantly getting caught. I feel like I'm in a Laurel and Hardy movie. First my sleeve then the back of my sweater then (always!) my hat gets snagged and pulled off. It goes on all day.

I've learned not to wear sweaters when pruning. They catch and snag constantly. If it is all that cold, I put on a sweatshirt which has a smooth exterior. I recently bought a zip front sweatshirt with a fleece lining in a man's size small. I had looked for one in women's sizes for many years, and never found one. It is really warm; so much so that if I'm still cold in that it is time to go inside and call it a day. And if it is not that cold, heavy twill or denim shirts are the best protection. Again, look at the men's or boy's departments. Rose pruning time is not the time to make a fashion statement.

Rosefolly

@Cemeteryrose: Yes Anita, I am. I try to protect myself, but there are those times when I get a little lazy and think that I can just prune, or weed around the roses and be fine, only to come in the house injured, looking like I just came from battle. I keep plenty of bandages and hydrogen peroxide in the house to nurse my wounds. I've become better over the years at being very conscious of avoiding the thorns though.

Juliet

I am DONE with hyper thorny roses. I don't mind a few "prickles" but I had better be able to gain purchase on a cane without being mauled. Otherwise, la Madame de Shovel demands satisfaction! Yep, I've shovel prune just because of thorniness alone. For example, my insane mom grows Forth of July. She likes the dramatic flower with their delicous apple fragrance. I despise the vicious thorns. Plant BERRIES AND CREAM instead.

Patrick

Not just scratches, but torn clothes. I actually spend a lot of time dethorning some of my climbers (the large canes on the bottom) so I can approach the plants to prune them.

I can't really complain because before I had roses, I had to spend a lot of time de-briaring most of my back yard. That was fun! I only did it in the winter so I could wear my heavy canvas coat.

I'm getting lazier as I get older. Thornlessness and BS resistance have become as important as any other criteria. Conversely, hyper thorny and BS magnets are off my list.