Pruning/training Newly Planted Mrs. Dudley Cross

11 years ago

Hi all,

I'm confused about what to do with a newly planted Mrs. Dudley Cross that has one unwanted horizontal cane that doesn't seem to work no matter how I rotated the plant in the hole.

It's been in a 3 gallon pot for about a year, so it was a nicely branched plant with a few 3' canes and nice "scaffolding" as Paul Zimmerman videos say.

When we got it into the ground, I realized that of the 3 nice scaffold canes coming out of the bottom, 2 branch out sideways kind of balanced... one slightly to the left and one slightly to the right, but both kind of upright. The other one was a lot more horizontal, and coming out of the middle. The way we positioned the plant in the ground, this low horizontal branch goes out and touches the house. If we had turned the plant around so that this low branch would be sticking straight out over the lawn.

Paul Zimmerman says not to prune these scaffold branches much, but it seems like this horizontal branch needs to come out. It doesn't work in either scenario.

So do I cut it to the main stump at the ground?

Do I cut it at some point above a bud to encourage the direction of the new growth?

Or do I keep it and try to tie the cane to some sort of trellis or pole (to train it off the house?)

Many thanks for your advice.

-k

Featured Answer

jerijen

11 years ago

Kristi -- If you think the space will be sufficient once the rose is more mature, why not just poke an upright stake into the ground near it, and tie the cane to that, raising it up off the lawn?

I do that here -- some places, if I didn't, the poor things would be weed-whacked.

This morning, Clay planted a young collected Devoniensis (San Juan Bautista) near a maturing-at-last 'Mme. Lombard.' The Madame is just beginning (at last) to go upward, rather than looking like a ground-cover.

When the Devoniensis starts to grow some real canes, it's possible some of them might at some point need staking.

Jeri

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Comments (11)

funnelweb
11 years ago
Well, I think I'd simply cut it to a bud pointing in the direction you want it grow and see what happens. Certainly won't kill the plant. If you had a photo of the plant it would help.
floridarosez9 Morgan
11 years ago
I have just let mine grow as it will, and it just seems to be one of those awkward angular growing plants for me. Mine is sparsely leaved compared to some of my other teas. I'm hoping it will outgrow the angular/awkward thing.
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jerijen
11 years ago
I would leave it alone, and deal with it for a year or so, and remove it only when it had more canes to work with.

Jeri
jacqueline9CA
11 years ago
I would also leave it alone - I would think of it as a baby putting out training wheels. Unlike a tree, you do not need to prune baby roses to create their ultimate shape. After it is in the ground it will spend a while putting out new roots, and seem almost dormant. Then you will get some new growth, including new canes. Right now it needs its baby canes and leaves for energy while it is accomodating itself to its new location, and to not being in a pot anymore.

Jackie
organic_tosca
11 years ago
From my own bitter experience with young teas, I, too, would say DON'T CUT. I felt exactly as you do, only my young tea was a most beautiful 'Mme. Antoine Mari'. Jeri gave me the same advice she has just given you, but my being so new to it all, and getting other conflicting advice, I cut anyway. The result was a downhill slide of my favorite rose and her eventual death. I really learned the hard way!

Laura
sherryocala
11 years ago
I would say it was planted too close to the house, and I would move it farther away, leaving room for it to do its thing which includes growing canes quite a bit longer than 3'. If you don't move it now, you'll be chopping it forever, and it will be grotesque. Sorry to sound so mean, but a newly planted rose is easy to move. And if turning it the other way makes it hang over the grass, then your bed is too small and should be widened. I've heard that this Tea rose can get pretty big.

Please don't cut it. Even though these are basically temporary canes that won't matter in a couple of years, they are all this rose has for now. Let it become the rose it wants to be on its own terms (like maybe 6x6?). In 3 or 4 or 5 years you'll be amazed with this beautiful plant. Be patient with teas. Look the other way and forget it's there, because it's going to look pretty unorthodox for a good while. This is a real live case of "walk by faith not by sight."

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...
jerijen
11 years ago
". . . these are basically temporary canes . . . "

That's one piece of advice I had from Bob ("Limberlost") Edberg that I DID take to heart. And it was right.

What looks NOW like "mature" growth really is "scaffolding" for the plant it will begin to become, now that it is in the ground. Give your new baby every chance to "Be All That It Can Be."

Jeri
rosefolly
11 years ago
You do that even with a tree. There is a lot of pruning that goes on in a young ornamental tree. You make sure it keeps a single leader (or you will be very sorry decades later), but you leave a lot of scrubby growth at the bottom at first. Then slowly year by year you remove a bottom layer of it until you reach the first permanent scaffold branch. If you take all the unwanted lower branches off too soon, the tree won't have enough leaves to grow much. If you leave them on too long, the tree invests too much energy into growing branches that will compromise the structural integrity of the tree. A wise tree man once told me that the better you prune a tree while it is young, the less you will need to prune it when it is mature.

If it were me with this rose, I would leave the awkward branch for now, but make plans to remove it in a year when it has developed branches with better placement.

Rosefolly
sallybcs
11 years ago
I agree with Sherry, it will get much bigger and you will be battling with it the whole time. I'd try to find an area with more room.
kristimama
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you all for your advice.
Sherry, I appreciate your description... and I may consider it.

When I said that the branch, facing forward, was hanging over the lawn... I just meant that it was literally *laying* on the lawn. When it is mature, I have no problem with the bush extending over the lawn. I just didn't want that low laying horizontal branch laying down on the lawn.

Now I seriously have to think about moving this one.

-k

Pruning/training Newly Planted Mrs. Dudley Cross

jerijen

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funnelweb

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Pruning/training Newly Planted Mrs. Dudley Cross

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