Hi Kendra, copy the html in the first box under "Grab Your Code" on the tinypic website to post the photo here directly. It makes it a lot easier to get comments that way. What grows from the buds: 1. leaves 2. small twigs that have a flower or two at the end, and a leaf or two. 3. larger branches that have a cluster of flowers and a few leaves 4. Huge stems that rival the size of the original stem. Whether 1,2,3, or 4 are what you get from each bud depends on a lot of different factors, the cultivar, the location of the plant in your yard, the climate zone, the amount of water and nutrients the plant gets, the location on the cane where the bud resides. The easiest thing to do is what you have already started: take photos after pruning, and see what happens. Did you get a great spring flush from your rose, or one that was worse that last year? Are the canes dying back from where you cut, or sprouting strong new growth? The small twiggy growth you left--is that producing some flowers, or nothing? Observing what happens tells you how to prune next year. Write things down, and every year, the rose will get better and better based on your knowledge. It's not a cut-and-dried thing because there are so many variables. The basics are: removed dead, damaged, and diseased wood, keep it a managable size so you can handle it without injuring your self. A trick I use is taking a long pole pruner to reach the highest growth. I grab it and pull it down and either trim it or arch it over so I can reach it later. Climbing rose care is an art, not a science. Check YouTube, there are some good "how to prune a climbing rose" videos on there.

OK, so here are some shots of my baby 'Jaune Desprez' climbing into the old Japanese maple. The tip of the lateral on the left forked-trunk just hits six-feet tall. There are more laterals lower down which are showing lots of growth, so that one won't be alone for long. In this shot, you can see 'Jaune Desprez' climbing the Japanese maple trunk, and the three roses I planted to go against my front porch. I removed the white azalea that was in the corner by the front steps and moved it to in front of the neighbor's house behind their mailbox. On the left is 'Souvenir du Dr. Jamain' which will be the big climber for the porch railing, and will continue to be trained to grow against it. In the middle is the once-blooming Hybrid China 'Duchesse de Angouleme' which will not get quite as big but will serve as a "living trellis" for a clematis I'll plant there next year. And on the right is the China 'Archduke Charles', which is thornless, and has flowers that open pink and age to cherry-red. This is 'Nouveau Monde' showing its one big fat cane (which sprouted new after the band was potted and grew-on a bit -- the thin stems lower down was what it had when it arrived) which I trained along the deck railing, and it's sprouting lots more along its vertical length. 'Orfeo' is being trained against the Callery pear tree. Its two long main-canes are "hugging" the trunk diagonally, and training them so prompted lots of laterals to sprout. These were previously growing straight-out horizontally, but I tied them against the trunk with string (for now -- as they grow, I'll cut the string back and use something less obviously-visible). All roses mentioned in pics in this post came as bands this Spring -- none were from last year, and none came as 1-gallons. Lesson -- don't be afraid of bands! :-) ~Christopher This post was edited by AquaEyes on Sat, Oct 5, 13 at 15:02

Nope. No deer. We do have other critters. Lots of birds. Turkey. Rabbits. Teenagers. There is also this amazing Siamese tomcat that we call Tank who hissed at my car as I was pulling out of the driveway! No kidding. Dared it to come any closer. My poor Toyota was traumatized. This cat is HUGE. Both ears half chewed off. I dread to think what might happen if the dogs decided to take him on. The Boston terrier would be cat food. Apparently this cat has been around for a while according to the neighbors. The king of the jungle and all that. We are just leasing this land from him. :o) I do like to walk around but not as much now it is so hot. In the back the chiggers are also pretty rough this time of year. It is the price of living in the country.

Rosefolly, Trish, Bart thank so much! Rosylady, that's great! I so look forward to seeing your photos. I think the house is turn of the century or so. Early 1900s. Virginia, I think the photos just look nice, but really the garden is a total mishmash with no planning whatsoever (mainly born out of my curiosity about a certain plant and obviously lots of roses). I noticed the irises and japanese anemones are "mirrored" on the pear bed side and the long border side, but that was totally by accident (a happy accident I think). I lliterally just started digging, amending ("feeding" really) and planting willy-nilly. My order-and-tidiness-loving boyfriend was concerned at first, but it's worked out and I've earned the right to pretty much do whatever I want with the garden now :) Except for some compromises of course, but that's fine. Bart and Melissa, yes..... that Italian predilection for pruning.... (and cutting stuff down! Fare piazza pulita as it were...)... I know. The thing I love most about the garden is the light. The way the light hits everything. It's interesting when you have a space and you think "I want to let sunshine in here and for it to be luminous" but you have nothing for the light to actually HIT, youget less "light". I don't know if that makes sense. That's why I love the irises and their tallness, and the gaura (which is emerging now), and the spires of lavender and oregano in flower, and the olive trees,.... they really catch the light in a way that animates the whole garden. Also the insects - they also catch the light and make it feel alive.