Next year, get after them in August, or right after they put up those shoots. The problem with doing it now, is that a cold winter can cause winterkill on cuts that haven't had a chance to harden off.

I'm assuming the pruning was done for size/aesthetic reasons? Gallicas arch over, and very rarely smoosh. Sometimes ones with a lot of China influence produce straight, thick canes that won't bend over properly, but most naturally arch.

You should still be able to cut them back 1/3 now, winter kill or not. Just be sure to seal the cuts well with Elmer's Carpenter's Glue. Note, I said Carpenter's glue, not the white stuff, which is NOT the right stuff. The Carpenter's glue is more viscous and seals better as well as safer.

I've been pruning my ogrs in later winter after reading about Olga's method on the Antique Rose Forum and seeing her gardens in person.

I cannot find the original post but here is a followup discussion. Olga's advice was perfect for me as I was pruning after the bloom but it seemed like I was wasting my time!
Maureen

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter pruning post

Maureen, I (re) read the link and still a little confused. If I follow Olga's advice, I would wait til mid-winter to prune? By then the canes will probably be buried in snow. And they will be smooshed to the ground as that is what happened last winter, but I attributed it to them being in their first year and not strong enough. They are not arching gracefully at all, more like they have become too tall and are leaning over in one direction. I could just say the heck with it and get it done now but I still wonder if I would be compromising next year's bloom if I cut them back by about a third or a half.

The same thing has happened with my once-blooming DA, Constance Spry. She was pruned very well in July after bloom, tied to the arbor. Now we need to redo it, only I will not prune any of the new growth, just tie it onto the trellis. Last year at this time we had an over-grown Constance Spry and we just pruned back the growth that was growing straight up from the trellis, but then we had far less bloom this year.

Just feeling I am constantly needing to cut back unruly roses.

And what is the purpose of the glue? I have heard others use this as a preventative for cane borer, but so far I have not had a problem with that. Does sealing the cuts help with overwintering as well?

You only get blooms on the top part of the cane, unless the cane is horizontal--then you can get laterals all along the cane which will bloom. Since you are looking for that upright look, you can only get blooms on the top part of the cane--so the length of the cane really doesn't affect how much bloom you can get out of that cane. The buds on the lower part of the cane stay dormant.

Olga's winter pruning I do after the snow melts. It's varied between February and April, depending on the year. It's really a spring pruning that we are trying to time-shift to a less busy season.

If they smooshed last year, it was because they were young. The first year we had Chloris, my DH was scared to death that we had lost it - not lost it in that it died, but lost it as in we had no idea where it went. It had been flattened. It was the only time I've seen that happen, and definitely the only time it happened to Chloris.

What are you trying to accomplish? That is going to have a big affect on what you should be doing. Protecting them from snow load is completely off my radar.

What I'm trying to accomplish is to keep them a reasonable height, more like around 4', no more than 5'. I just looked at the gallica Marianne and she has surpassed 7' I think. Sure I would love the cascading effect or the vase shape. There really isn't enough space to peg down all the lanky canes so they will produce laterals next year with lots of blooms. But what I DON'T want are roses that are 7' tall and bloom just at the tops.

You don't peg them. They arch over all by themselves. However, to grow them that way does take a fair amount of room.

To grow them as upright shrubs takes a fair amount of pruning. Just put the clippers away for now. It's too late in the year to do the sort of things that should be done. Next spring, take about a third of the canes and cut them back to about two feet. Those will branch, and the branches can be cut back to about four feet. Even with that kind of pruning, some roses will obviously want to be bigger than that.

MG, so if I cut about a third of the canes to 2' next spring (or can I do it in winter if they're not buried by snow?), will they produce new shoots from that and bloom just as well as if I didn't prune them?

No, those canes won't bloom as well next year. That's why I'm suggesting you only do part of them. Instead of producing flowers along most of the cane, it will produce flowers at the end of a lot of branches. It's a much more upright look, and produces long stems for cutting. However, those branches develop over several years. Ideally, this training starts the first year the rose is in the ground, so there is a certain amount of catching up that's necessary.

Unhealed cuts are tender. If the pruning is done too close to cold temperatures, then the damage travels down the cane. When people talk about doing this sort of pruning in winter, they are also talking about being in a climate where they aren't really expecting that type of cold. I am willing to do it anytime I'm not expecting temperatures below about 10°F for a few months. So the earliest I've pruned is the end of February in a year when the forecast lows for the next two weeks are relatively warm. By the end of March, normal temperatures are safe.

OK, thanks MG. I think I get it and won't prune this fall and wait til next spring.

will someone say what OGRs are? I read this just to pick up some extra knowledge, but i have no idea what yall are talking about! (...blushes and runs back to the cottage forum.. :)

Lilyfinch - OGRs are "old garden roses" There is an interesting thread on the Antique Rose Forum. See link below
Maureen

Here is a link that might be useful: Antique / OGR Thread