I truly don't think it matters much, as long as you don't prune enough to kill them. I personally would just clean them up a bit, removing anything which is dead, and perhaps a very old cane or two, if there are any. My Rainbow's end does not grow at all like a shrub rose - it has so many little leaf buds all over it. Whatever I did, I would not take off more than 1/3rd of the (living part) of the bush. There is really no "correct and ONLY right way" to prune any rose - that is a canard which the ARS and other rule loving folks have been promulgating for years, but it is incorrect, so don't worry about it too much.

Jackie

Yeah mine are covered with leaf buds all over and are becoming very ramified, branching in many different directions, somewhat like a bramble. I was just curious if others take their back to a small number of good, straighter canes, getting rid of all the branching, or should one encourage the branching for more blooms?

When I got mine there was a note from Noreaster that said , this rose could get humungous with fertalizer

I never fertilized it and it was still huge. I just cleaned it up and shaped it. It bloomed like a champ. What a cool rose.

Rainbow's End is one of the most appealing minis out there. Its growth habit is very shapely, not leggy, not compact, but very uniform. Its blooms have tremendous substance, and as perfect hybrid tea form as one could want. It reminds me of a smaller version of the HT, Peace, with brighter, bolder shades of the same colors found in Peace.

I would remove all older, skinny-twiggy, and dead growth, then select the thickest, youngest 4-6 canes coming out as close to the crown as possible and pointing out in all directions as a sea urchin's spines do. Then I would reduce their height/length to no more than 8-10".

You will get the best, most vigorous growth and best flowers from the huskist, youngest (greenest), canes.

Thanks Moses. This is how I approach my Icebergs and they do well with this kind of pruning, coming back strong and putting off a lot of flowers.

I was looking over my Rainbow's End this morning and was thinking that this might be a good approach as they do, finally, have some nicely shaped, strong base canes, enough to prunes them as you suggest.

Have you seen Cl Rainbow's End? I just pruned mine - it is over 10 years old. We took out 3 very old large canes, and just tied the newer ones back up, after cleaning them up a bit. I really love it - it blooms all Summer here. Here is a pic from last year:

Jackie

Jackie, your photo of climbing Rainbow's End speaks happy, summertime!

Thanks - I think so too. I need some summertime right now - we are just coming off a period when it rained from Friday to today (Wed). We got 6 inches in that period. Then they say we will get 2 1/2 days of no rain before the next 5 day storm series starts on Sat.

Plants I ordered months ago are arriving, but of course I cannot plant them in our soggy soil. I guess if it stays clear today I will just pot them up (foxglove plugs), and put them outside but under the roof over our back stairs. Sigh.

On the other hand, when I went out to get the paper this morning, and it was not raining, I was able to look around. All of the roses are leafing out, buds are finally appearing on our 3 story high banksia lutea - Spring is happening. It may rain through April or May - that is the normal end of our rainy season. We are lucky - we do not live on or next to a hill. Landslides are taking out houses all over nearby - the soil is so saturated it just "seeks its angle of repose" as my DH says. Hope you are all staying safe out there too.

Jackie

Jackie,

Glad to hear you're on safe ground. So normally you get rain until May? I hope you continue to get all the benefits of this season's incredible rains, and none of its liabilities.

I'm curious to know what variety of foxgloves they are that you mentioned above? Could you give me the skinny on them? I'm always on the lookout for a new/different foxglove. Few perennials say, "Old Fashioned Cottage Garden," like foxglove. Their verticality really embellishes a rose bed.

Yes, our normal rainy season is Oct/Nov to April/May. Then we normally get NO RAIN, not one drop, from June through Sept (4 mo), and sometimes from May through Oct( 6mo). So, I always laugh when folks from areas where it rains intermittently all Summer brag about giving their roses "no supplemental water"!

I know nothing about foxgloves, except once I when I was touring the Vintage Gardens garden at its height, they had tall white foxgloves all over the garden, and they looked great with the roses. I tried planting some in my garden, but all of the ones I tried got 7-8 feet tall, and fell over, and were annoying.

So, I gave up, but still looked at them in catalogues. This year I found one kind which claims to only get 18-24 inches tall (which I do not believe, at least not in my garden - everything in my garden seems to get at least twice as tall as advertised, but that would still only be 4 feet high). I ordered them from Spring Hill - these are the ones which just showed up. They are called ""Polkadot Polly". In the pictures they look pink with sort of gold/brown throats.

Then I found another one in a Dutch Gardens catalogue which they claim only gets 30 inches high, which I doubled to 5 feet, but that it still way better than 8 feet! I ordered some - they are called Dalmatian Peach, and are supposed to bloom the first year. They look pale peachy pink with orangey throats. They have not arrived yet.

Jackie

Thanks, Jackie, I'll research the two varieties you named. I find it's best to put a 5-6' bamboo stake in with each foxglove when it's first planted....two feet in the ground & three feet above ground. They flop for me without fail.