Drew, I'm sorry, I did accidentally (subconsciously on purpose, probably) exaggerate, but the guide doesn't recommend spray after pruning. However, upon further reading, I've found that your information is correct and copper spray is widely recommended after pruning even though it isn't very affective- but enough so to be worth doing according to current Cornell and other guidelines. I stand corrected and thank you for bringing this to my attention. After reading all this material about cherry canker I am somewhat surprised that my careless timing of pruning has never led to any outbreaks of this infection over the last 25 years. Cherries are a minority species in orchards I manage and I am very busy doing non-pruning work in the first couple weeks after trees come out of dormancy. It would be expensive to come back to prune only cherries and peaches at many of the smaller orchards I manage. I recently started managing cherries with summer pruning anyway- but only to better manage fruiting wood. I will now pay more attention to weather forecasts before performing this kind of pruning. I will wait until I actually see some cherry canker somewhere before I start spraying after pruning. I have to keep customer expenses down. If you hadn't posted about it I wouldn't think about cherry canker much at all. Thanks again.

Al: Oh, I do indeed have more trees! I am a bit overwhelmed by the number of pots both in and outside of my home. I am an incurable collector. I could ask you questions about them all day. . . Back in March, you answered several of my questions about making the gritty mix when I was just embarking upon that adventure. I put a few plants that were on death's doorstep in the mix then. A few didn't make it (a draceana among them), a few are thriving (the aloe and spider plant love the mix!), most have held steady and are starting to show signs of growth (shefflera, swiss cheese philodendron). So I do have a sense of the patience required when repotting before the optimal time. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of undertaking things at the right time. It's been nice to practice with the mix, learn about it's water retention, and begin to tweak it for my needs before I moved my most-beloveds into it. This week I chopped an enormous floppy jade back to it's thick base and put it in the mix. Looking forward to that development. Also a favorite cactus whose name I don't know; it's about four feet tall, main stalk about 3-4" diameter with five stalks coming off the main, so maneuvering it was an exciting project. I was nervous about that one, but glad I did it when I got in there and saw how cemented the roots were in the hardest soil I've ever dealt with. I have a ficus lyrata (fiddle fig) that also reaches the ceiling, so I'm using your advice to give it a new shape. I'm planning on following roughly the same timing for it as for the elastica. I have a very big Bloodgood maple in a pot that's too big to move. I'd love to get that back to a manageable size, but it has just leafed out beautifully and I'm thinking that it is not the right time for that. Your comments are welcome. My other big question involves conifers. I have a very sick Wilma Goldcrest Cypress, and some kind of arborvitae (I think). I've noted that you don't recommend bare-rooting these, but cutting wedges. Is that correct? What about timing? Okay, I've rambled enough. As you can probably tell now, I'm addicted (like many folks I've read on this site). Thanks again for your help. I'm really enjoying learning about the plants, seeing their roots, and giving them conditions to thrive. blessings, brenda

Righto. Disregard all who spout nonsense about the "bleeding" of maples, etc. when pruned in late winter/early spring. This is simply an indication of positive pressure within the tree as compared to the surrounding air. It is not a problem for the plant. Elms, at least in areas where Dutch elm disease is present, should not be pruned during the summer. And no tree should be pruned during the part of the fall season when trees are losing their leaves. Likewise, no tree should be pruned during spring bud swell/leaf expansion. Other than those factors, it's pretty much wide open. +oM

I'm with Mad Gallica - you may always be wrestling with the weight of that rose, and I'd hate to see it damage your house. You might look into a freestanding arch to let it climb over, which means you can possibly contain the monster without having to cut all the canes back. If you want to reduce bloodshed and hassle, by all means it shouldn't hurt the rose, but you may not get much bloom in the next spring as a result. Michael is quite right (of course) that we aim under normal conditions to cut no more than 1/3 of the canes in a given year, and not to prune the main canes of a climber much at all, but stretch the canes sideways on the support. Obviously you're not dealing with normal circumstances however. My experiences with a freestanding Quadra may help you envision what you want from this rose. Quadra is another monster growing, very thorny climber that is hardy in our zone 5 (and beyond). I was lazy about setting up support in its first couple of years, so mine grew into the very wide bushy shrub like yours appears to be. I finally wrestled an 8' metal arch on top of Quadra and attached all the branches I could to one of the side panels without being too systematic (this took several hours and thick gloves and clothing, so brace yourself). You'll still need something to anchor the arch to the house, or the whole thing will tip over in the wind, wrecking that work tidying. However, now that I've done that work, I don't ever have to wade into Quadra to prune it other than clearing out the dead wood (if any) and encouraging new canes to fit into one side or the other of the arch. After a couple of years, it looks more like a traditional climber, once I pulled new canes to the sides, though there still are canes in the middle that fill in with blooms. Your New Dawn looks like my Quadra did when freestanding, so it's likely to work if you're game, and you can get it tidied up now. Of course, the severe pruning will save you bloodshed now if you want to go that route, but I'd still recommend something like this as you think about supports. Here's what Quadra looked like when I first wrestled it into the arch. You can't see, but it's anchored into the brick corner behind the arch with some supports my husband drilled into the brick. You can see on the left the green velcro-type strips I use to secure it to the arch in strategic places. These are available in most garden or hardware stores. I don't have a good "before" picture, but mine looked a lot like yours when I started. Good for you to be willing to work with this rose rather than just getting rid of it (not an easy prospect either). We're happy to help with ideas. Cynthia