I don't defoliate my roses, but remember March as being the month when the evergreen roses look really shabby, so suspect that's when they drop their old leaves and put on the new ones. Our flowering season usually starts in late April/early May, just to give you an idea of times here. Why did you remove the leaves?

I think it depends on how warm it is where you are. My roses are leafing out already, but we've had weather in the mid 70s this past week. As per my rose society, it will be 60 days after pruning before roses bloom, for our area anyway.

Melissa, because of our warm climate, we defoliate to simulate dormancy and get rid of any diseased foliage. Here's a video that explains: Pruning Roses in California.

Thank you Jasmine. We are still in the 60s here so we may trail behind you a bit. February we should have some 70F days. Ok so by February/March I should have some bushes clothes in leaves. YES! Thank you!

Melissa I forced dormancy this year for the roses like Jasmine said. Otherwise they never go dormant here. Have never forced that for them in the past... just did pruning, but let them stay awake through the winter. This year I made them go to sleep by defoliating and pruning.

It is also supposed to help reduce the load of insects too. :)

Here in Florida , with Fortuniana roorstock we are not supposed to strip the leaves or even prune hard . But I think Dr.Huey needs hard pruning and defoliating .

Good info Pink Rose. Thank you! Here in CA, I just learned that it's best if we prune and defoliate in January... for any rootstock.

I always pruned before, but I didn't only do it in January. Before, I did it whenever I thought they needed it and I had the time. This year I tried to do it exactly as recommended for my area.

I know I'm being a whiner because most other places have severe, real winters with snow and freezing temps... but I'm not used to naked bushes. It is desolate looking. I want my new leaves.

I too was whining in another thread .Because l had just pruned my roses and did not have any blooms . Maybe you should add organic fertilizers.?

I have own-root roses and I still defoliate.

Yes good point Jasmine. We are supposed to defoliate for any rootstock or own root in CA. That's what I learned this year.

LOL... Pink Rose that is a nice thought... but there's two problems and that's why I chuckled. First.... my dogs LOVE organic fertilizers and they will dig at the roots and totally ruin them if I put anything organic down for the roses. Even alfalfa pellets. I'm trying to combat that by growing my own fresh alfalfa. We will see how that goes.

Second, I had my soil tested recently and found out my soil is off the charts in pretty much everything. So no need to fertilize for the most part. It would just end up being pollution.

I think I just need to be patient. Sigh. Not my strong suit.

Cori Ann, I never defoliate my roses (except my old HTs), but this year about half of them defoliated themselves, probably because of the weather. I have noticed a half dozen of the "naked" ones are starting to leaf out already - in our benign climate, I think it depends mostly on what type of rose it is. My once bloomers are leafing out - they tend to bloom earlier than the others each year. Dawson's Apple Blossom (rambler), the yellow banksia (banksia), and Belle Portugaise (hybrid gigantica).

Also leafing out are all of the hybrid musks, and some of the tea roses (the other tea roses never stopped blooming, and are still blooming - like Duchesse de Brabant and Safrano).

I did prune my 4 hybrid tea roses about a week ago.They are all mid 20th century, so I keep them in huge pots on the patio so I can spray them when needed, as unlike all of my other roses, they ALL get not only blackspot, but also rust. I do defoliate them, because the old leaves are horrible. Anyway, after a week all of them are starting to leaf out.

So, I don't think you have long to wait!

Jackie

I am stripping leaves off my DA roses this month. I didn't last Spring and some ratty leaves hung on all Summer. I wasn't used to that in my past cold gardening. Good for you Cori Ann.

That is good to hear Jackie! Thank you so much!

Sheila I guess that is one of the benefits of cold weather gardening. The cold weather does some of the work for you! But man you really have to do so much more work in other ways in colder climates. I wouldn't last. I can't imagine shoveling snow or raking snow off the roof.

I will tell you this.... defoliating everything made me prune harder than usual. It was just easier to take one big snip instead of taking off every leaf. We will see how that works out! I think it is actually going to be quite fabulous. In my imagination they're all going to bloom at the same time and have wonderful new, luscious foliage.

My new chinas and teas didn't get defoliated and I think that was the right move. Everything else though... they're all nudists. Well I guess besides Archduke Charles. I did defoliate all of those. The other teas and chinas though, those all were spared from my defoliating frenzy.