Flo, I haven't pruned in two years. I just bought an electric hedge clipper. Guess what I'll be doing on Sunday... ;-))

Well, not on the Polys, they look like they will have buds any day now. But the older HTs are getting a big old haircut. I can't wait!

I always apologize, so pruning time sounds like this at my house, "oh, sorry! sorry sweetie!" The neighbors must think I'm nuts. I try to do it when my husband is not home because I don't think he knows I talk to the roses, and the cats will never tell.

I've taken a vacation from pruning this year based on the Vintage Gardens article and I'll see how everything does. I think from now on I'll basically be pruning to satisfy space requirements and leave the roses as large a size as I can accommodate. I don't know how this would work for colder climates but Jeri seems to have good success with it in So. California so I'm going to go that route for a few years as a test. I don't have hybrid teas and only a few floribundas, and I doubt that the old roses will mind. And, so much easier on me!

Ingrid

Zephy,
Gotta prune mine every year. It is a ritual, with my mp3 player and some good songs or a good audibook. It takes weeks and weeks to complete.
My roses get way too big and disease-ridden by late fall. I have a California size yard and need to keep them in bounds. I feel so good after pruning and doing clean up. I know they always come back.
Kathy

I like it when they get big, so I only cut if the canes cross, if I see disease, or to help them bloom. I live in California, so big is BIG here!

Pruning, the fine art of pruning roses! Of chiseling a rosebush with scissors!!

Well, that's not for me.

I simply take my electric hedge clipper and happily chop whatever has grown too large for my taste. No plant ever complained...

What Vintage Rose article?

zyperisis, if you google Vintage Gardens you'll see an entry with different sections, one of which is News and Events. Mention is made of the article on that page and you can go on from there. The gist of the article is that in a 10-year trial done in England the roses that were pruned in the conventional way were the least successful in terms of bloom and growth. I think it's one of those things you have to experiment with yourself and make up your own mind. I suppose it also depends on how much room you have to work with.

I took it easier with pruning because of the Vintage article too, and some of mine are already too big. I have a couple of one cane wonders and they're starting to look like standards, so they're ok. I do have the problem of being reluctant to hard prune, when sometimes that is what they need.

It does bother me and I don't do it. I mean heavey pruning. I prune lightly. You should read Gregg's article. It's really eye opening. I'm sure though that those two roses will come growing back beautifully.

I found Gregg's article..and I was fascinated! He makes sense

I cut away a lot of green cane. As my roses have matured, they seem to be getting more cold hardy. I try to get all the moderns down to 18".

Why? Because they grow so tall here. Folklore and Mr. Lincoln would reach 10-12' if left alone. Even "small" roses like Tamora and Molineux grow over 6'. I prune midsummer too!

How it works around here is that most people start out with the marginal modern roses. These are usually very simple to prune - get rid of dead wood. If you are lucky there is something left.

Then people move on to hardy roses. They want to follow their old, familiar pruning rules, so they are very reluctant to prune anything that isn't dead. So for all practical purposes, the roses aren't pruned at all for a couple of years. For a couple of years this is fine. Everybody is happy. Then the bottom drops out. All those canes are about the same age, and they are all getting older. There isn't any room for new canes, so there aren't any. We get a winter that healthy canes in their prime would have absolutely no trouble with, but these canes are all old and weak. A frightening high percentage of the rose is now dead. In some cases, the entire rose is now dead. There is much wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

This isn't a form of pruning to be done with hedge clippers because it has to be done as thinning from the base. Even if the roses are shaped hard, periodically canes have to be taken out at the base.

It makes sense that forms of pruning that work in the mild winters in England might not work in a cold-winter climate. I truly believe that there is no one method of rose growing, including pruning, that works for everyone. When you think of the huge diversity in climate zones in which roses are grown that would almost be a miracle. As mad gallica pointed out, the error of your ways may not even be apparent for a few years. I do think that common sense and studying your roses carefully will probably give you the answers you need.

Thanks for the information about Vinyage Gardens---I read Gregg's article about pruning-----very interesting---My roses usually survive with little or no care

I sure hope the two "one cane" wonders will be OK----

I was hoping they would become fuller but perhaps I should have just let them be--as Erasmus said they almost look like standard roses with all the bloom on top-----

Thanks for all the information--

Florence

Florence this past winter has been the hardest on my roses that I can remember. I know for sure I have lost 3 as they practically fell out of the ground. One little tug to see if they were alive at all and they came easily out. Black right down the roots. I pruned 9 large garbage bags of canes! Still another bag to go at least. And I am not that fussy of a gardener. I pray all the time I am pruning that I am doing the right thing for the plant. They show their appreciation about July 1st. :)

When I prune I take out the old wood unless of course it is a once bloomer, that changes things. Also when cutting the canes I look for an outward facing bud and trim down to that. Also remove all the crossed and broken canes. I don't know where they come from every year!

Your roses always look so healthy Florence, I am sure you are doing something right.

Valerie

Wish I could be picky about the pruning too. I lost 4-5 and I had to prune almost every one of the rest to the ground. This has been one of the worst winters for my roses.