Did he buy 'Climbing Golden Glow', or the bush form (just called 'Golden Glow')? In either event, newly planted roses DO NOT need to be pruned, or trained - just leave it alone. It is busy growing new roots. This takes a while. Make sure it does not go without water very long. You can deadhead the old blooms of you want. (That means just cut off the dead flower or developing hip where the flower was - no more). This will encourage it to bloom more. If it is the Cl Golden Glow, eventually (in a year or two) it will start to put out large long new climbing canes. They will get very long very fast. That is when you can start to train it. Let the new climbing canes alone long enough so that they are not so soft that you will damage them. Then, when they are no longer soft, you can tie them gently to a support. The more horizontally you are able to tie them, the better. They will sprout new growth that will bloom all along their length. Good Luck! Jackie

It may be ok but I would choose a time when the plant is dormant instead. As soon as you see the leaves dried out plus 1-2 weeks, I would do it. Or in Spring before it leafs out. Since the soil freezes where you live, I would not even try in the middle of winter.

So we have some hydrangeas (blue and purple flowers - two types, and looking at some pictures online they are mopheads and lacecaps). I am not sure which cultivar as it was planted by the previous owner. Last summer I did not prune them and now they are overgrown in the front flower bed. Same for the loropetalums (we have the ruby red). My question is would it be ok if I pruned these now (before spring) or would it drastically reduce the blooms this spring/ summer? I heard mopheads and lacecaps set blooms on stems from the previous season for the current season. Does this mean I should thin the bush out (i.e. cut 50% of the stems down to the base) so that I will still have some blooms or should I prune all stems to half the height? Same question goes for the loropetalum. Thanks for helping me out with this!

shazam, thanks! I did consider a smaller lilac too, but then don't they need full sun to bloom well? In terms of lilacs, how do you like the Bloomerang lilacs that rebloom? Mine in the backyard is finally doing OK, after 3-4 years but the blooms tend to be smaller and not as dramatic as the Korean lilacs... I am wondering if this is a common experience? In terms of evergreens, I do have a few there, like Calgary Carpet Junipers, a golden juniper, as well as a Weeping Larch, and now a Dwarf Weeping Norway Spruce. I also wondered about putting some evergreens there too, but what would do well and look good there with part sun? Prairie_northrose, I went to Lowe's today and got a couple of those 2 gallon Fire Light Hydrangeas today! The thing was, even though they were very healthy looking, they were quite small plants. On the other hand, the Phantom Hydrangeas that I found from Costco were pretty big already, even though they were in 2 gallon pots too. I think that Phantom Hydrangeas probably are just much more vigorous..... hmm.... maybe I should just return those Fire Lights???