OMG, Christopher! Look at all those red HT roses!! Wonderful pics. Thank you. I love your red roses with purple clematis. (My two favorite colors.) I have yet to acquire Chateau de Clos Vougeot but REALLY want to get one from RVR after I make room in my driveway pot garden, and I would love to grow another Guinee and Don Juan someday. Obviously, I completely grok your dark red rose mania. I currently have Mr. Lincoln, Black Magic, Black Bacarra, Deep Secret, Velvet Fragrance, Nigrette, Barcelona, Black Gold, Dusky Maiden, and Red Pinocchio. A couple of these are total pains, but I pamper them anyway. Lucky little buggers! Carol

I saw it last weekend at a rose garden and it was loaded with bloom. First year sleep, 2nd year creep, 3rd year leap.

Thank Christopher, I was. I am not that familiar with the PNW, but I have rose friends there and I don't think they have pruned yet. It's really up to you. I normally get roses leafing out at this time of year because we do get mild winters (even though we get frosts and freezing temps). Especially the roses that get a lot of sun. As I've said, every time I don't prune because it's already leafed out, I regret it. And I usually have to prune a lot after the first flush. And we are all victims of the weather. In 2007 we had a very warm winter and my roses were almost fully leafed out in early March. I did prune some. But many were full of buds or in bloom at the end of March. Then we had a disastrous hard frost on April 7th and 8th, Easter weekend. Everything was destroyed. All new growth was killed and the damage on some roses went back to the graft. I also lost my hydrangea blooms and almost my Japanese Maples and Gardenias. Some of the roses never recovered. There was probably nothing I could have done to prevent it, but after that year, I did wait until March to prune, no matter what was going on in my roses. It depends on where you live and what type of spring you normally get. If you can get frosts in early spring, then delaying pruning may be a good idea.

I live in British Columbia and there can be wet, cold weather in spring. My Dark Desire is now 8 years old. It never, ever gets black spot and it is not overly thorny (the worst possible thorns are on Falling in Love.) These aspects are apparently very variable according to location. It would grow too tall and become leggy but I cut it down every sprng. I have to because the cold winter always causes some die off, but each spring it renews itself again. It needs a rejuvenation but I have no idea what more it needs than the fertilizer I provide each year. Too bad they can't talk.