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gabrielsyme

Pruning Question for vigorous rambler

Gabrielsyme
9 years ago

I recently posted a picture of my Peggy Martin beginning to bloom but now I have a question. Last year (the first) I did very little pruning on this particular rose but this year I'm not sure how to proceed. I want the rose to grow up to the second floor balcony in the picture below and then I'd like to weave the canes through the railing. On the way I'd like to train some around the window to the right and maybe cover part of the house above and around the window as well.
My question is this: how many canes should I allow to start from the base? I now have two main canes that split off in four directions. Should I keep just two and encourage them to continue splitting off higher up or allow a third or fourth to grow from the base? I don't want things to get too complicated or muddled looking down there but I'm pretty new at this and I don't know how the canes will age. Do roses typically allow older canes to die back after a couple of years? In this case it would make sense to allow more growth from the base instead of relying on two or three aging canes. If I can put all my eggs in a couple of baskets so to speak I think I'd prefer that as I could then choose exactly where to place them.

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