How much do you trim your Bourbons?

5 years ago

I have mostly tea roses, some hybrid teas and floribundas and a good number of Bourbons, as they do so well here. I have SDLM and her sport Kronprincess Viktoria which I love. In the past I haven't trimmed my Bourbons much, maybe clipping off crossed stems or taking out dead wood. I've noticed my wonderful Romaggi Plot Bourbon that had been so full of blooms in past years seems to be blooming less this spring. I decided to trim Kronprincess back a bit more this winter since she was overtaking a small tree planted next to her. March and early April is peak bloom season here in Tempe, AZ (Phoenix suburb) and I have noticed Kronprincess is FULL of buds, after I trimmed her. She's blooming more than SDLM and Romaggi Plot Bourbon both of which I didn't trim much.

It's too late to trim them now but I am planning to trim SDLM and Romaggi Plot Bourbon back much more next winter, since that has stimulated so many blooms on Kronprincess.

I'm not an avid trimmer; I don't trim my teas much and trim my hybrid teas and floribundas moderately.

I was wondering if others would share their experience trimming their bourbons.

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Comments (4)

ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
5 years ago
Most of my Bourbons, including Romaggi Plot Bourbon and Kronprenzessin Viktoria, have fallen by the wayside, and I'm left with only two bushes of SdlM, both of which the rabbits have pruned. It's difficult for me to prune plants that continue to flower every month of the year, but next winter I will prune the larger of the two just to see what the effect will be. I can't imagine it will hurt, and it just may surprise me.
debbym, Tempe, AZ Zone 9 thanked ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
User
5 years ago
I seem to have 8 Bourbons and the only one I've hard pruned, threw a strop and sulked for months, so I gave up on that idea.. however, most are new to me so cannot be more specific.. but I won't be pruning too much, just to keep in bounds, that's all... I get the impression they enjoy being grown as short climbers or loose shrubs, and given their heads to do as they please..
debbym, Tempe, AZ Zone 9 thanked User
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AquaEyes 7a NJ
5 years ago
It depends on how they're grown, whether they're long-caned or bushy, and how much they repeat. Pegged long-caned Bourbons tend to exhaust their canes after a year or two -- I've found that new canes that shot up after last year's first flush will be the best bloom-producers when pegged for the first flush of their second year, but are more meager during the first flush of their third year, after which I remove them. The ones that don't repeat much do better by doing just a light trim in Spring, keeping as much of last year's new wood, then cutting back harder after the first flush. Bourbons like 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' would probably do best by starting with typical HT pruning, but not cutting back as short, and not reducing to so few canes. Basically, first remove anything dead, damaged, diseased, or going the wrong way. Then look for where two canes are competing for the same space, and remove the less-vigorous of the two. Once you're down to your healthy strong canes, trim bloom-laterals down to four or so buds, and trim back main canes to the highest strong bloom-lateral, or the highest strong bud going in the direction you prefer. Other Bourbons that are more arching but not necessarily long-caned climbers can be scaled back to a sort of high-centered inverted traffic cone shape -- outer canes shorter and extending outward, with center canes left a bit longer and going up. Of course, this would be after removing dead, diseased, damaged, or crossing canes.

:-)

~Christopher
debbym, Tempe, AZ Zone 9
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks Christopher,very helpful

How much do you trim your Bourbons?

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ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9

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How much do you trim your Bourbons?

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ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9

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