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too late to prune?

16 years ago

i have a roseraie de l'haye (does this qualify as antique??) that has struggled, and i never dared prune what little growth it had. also i'm struggling with rose midges. I have just decided that even the leaves have broken that i really ought to prune it to encourage some more vigourous growth. i'm not so much worried about not having flowers this year, but encouraging the rose in the long run. will it be too harmful, or is it worth a try?

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Comments (2)

robin_d
16 years ago
How old is the plant, and how big? How many canes? How's your soil and drainage? When you say that it's "struggling", what do you mean exactly?

Normally I'd say that if wouldn't hurt to prune it a bit, say, by about 1/3.
rebaru
Original Author
16 years ago
i planted the bare root bush in 2003??? it has never sent up a new cane, there are about 5 or 6 stems. it is struggling because there is not far from it a norway maple. the rose still gets sufficient sun, but the maple sucks everything out of the soil. still i think i will try pruning it to see what happens. i don't want to give up on it yet, though i know its situation is not ideal...
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Buds as in flower buds?? This is surprisingly early for a type 3 clem to be showing flower buds............Perle is typically listed as a midsummer (July) into fall bloomer. If it is showing buds now, I would just skip the pruning. Pruning is not a requirement but more of a means to tidy up deciduous clematis after winter and keep their size in check. If you really want to, you could prune now and hope for a later, more expected timing bloom cycle but just not sure how it will respond this late. Won't hurt the plant at all - just alter the bloom sequence.
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