when do you prune your rose bushes.
desert_cat_ca
14 years ago
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gobluedjm 9/18 CA
14 years agogardenguru1950
14 years agoRelated Discussions
When do you prune roses in NorCal?
Comments (9)I think Californians really need to think about how, when and why they prune roses here. Nobody should be surprised about the way roses act well here -- even without the copious watering, the fertilizing, the winter (or any!) pruning . We've simply gone along with what the Eastern rose gardeners tell us, via magazine and books from back there. It's even too bad that the American Rose Society, through its Master Rosarian program, perpetuates these regional processes throughout the whole country. Fact is, roses are simply shrubs; hybrid shrubs with the bulk of their genetics from Rosa chinensis, a subtropical evergreen rose species. Being such, it really doesn't "need" pruning in the winter time. It's actually best to prune it during the growing season, much as one would do with any evergreen repeat-blooming shrub, keeping it at a size and shape we want, mostly by cutting off bloomed-out stems. As long as we cut back cleanly to some husky wood, the rose responds positively all year long. If we do this, we have minimal pruning -- and sometimes NO pruning -- to do in the winter. We're trapped into thinking that we need to prune roses hard (to short stubs near the ground) because that's what they do back in cold country where they think it's going to save the rose tops from cold freezes. Even that's a myth. More than that, we're trapped into thinking that we need to cut off the water, let rose hips form, put on crushed ice and all kinds of silly tricks to get our roses to go into "dormancy". They won't, they can't, they're Rosa chinensis genes. Beyond winter chores, we're trapped into thinking we need to fertilize roses often and heavily. Some old cutlivars maybe. The newer ones much less. When planted in heavy soil, which contains good nutrients, roses are very happy. When planted in sandy soil, roses sulk. And amending is a myth, too. We've been convinced that roses need gobs of water. Roses in heavy soil, when trained with good soakings deeply and infrequently (once every 3-4 weeks in summer), become extraordinarily drought-tolerant. When planted in sand or put on a co-dependent drip system, they become sissies. And there are hundreds of rose cultivars that are disease-free and have self-cleaning blossoms so maintenance is lowered even more. Problem is, too many gardeners plant old problem-ridden cultivars, plant them in sandy soil, waste their time with amendments, use drip systems and over-fertilize and then tell everyone how problematic roses are. Surprised? Joe...See MoreWhen and how do you prune your Annabelles?
Comments (2)In cold locations, the stems dry out and die so the plant grows from the ground back up in Spring. It therefore makes sense to prune the dried out stems any time. Some people do it in the Fall, others in early Spring. You can also deadhead the blooms at any time. It is much warmer in my zone so I usually do neither. I let the blooms fall on their own but do not prune it to the ground because the stems do not usually dry out here. I suspect the blooms fall between Jan-Mar but I usually do not even notice!...See MoreWhen do you Cut Back your Shrubs/Bushes
Comments (1)I've learned that sometimes you can get away with breaking some of the rules of pruning, but if you really love the tree or shrub, you may not want to risk cutting it now. It just causes more stress for the plant....See MoreWhen do you prune your rugsosas?
Comments (2)No pruning recommended for rugosas. They look best natural. One could remove dead wood only....See Morewanda
14 years agocalistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years agonorma_2006
14 years agocalistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
14 years agodicot
14 years agowanda
14 years agogardenerme
14 years ago
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