Pruning roses when ?

[mammybear 10]

is it too early to start pruning my roses.

[joat36 10]

Have we had the last hard frost yet?

[sun-glow 10]

I always prun my roses in autumn before it is too wet according to gardening programme on TV.

[joat36 10]

Quite good to take off some of the excess growth in Autumn but usually the growing buds just beneath the cut get frosted through the winter and die back. So we usually prune again trying to do it just after the last hard frost so that the new shoots have a good growing season where they are not checked or killed by cold icy weather.

[sun-glow 10]

Quite good to take off some of the excess growth in Autumn but usually the growing buds just beneath the cut get frosted through the winter and die back. So we usually prune again trying to do it just after the last hard frost so that the new shoots have a good growing season where they are not checked or killed by cold icy weather.

 

So, do you have to cut off less in Autumn and give a bit more to play with in spring?

[joat36 10]

That is the method my old dad showed me it always works. Some years you can get away with pruning hard in Autumn and get flowers earlier , but only if you get a very mild winter. So cut to tidy in Autumn but leave about a foot (30cm) more than final prune for Spring final prune.

[sun-glow 10]

Thank you joat36. It's sounds much wiser and safer.

We always learn something from elderly people and I bet your father is a good gardener.

[joat36 10]

He was as his father was before him, good to pass on thoughts to younger generation it is.

Work with the seasons, sometimes try method for mild winter with some plants - get success = early flowers/crop. Play safe with larger number of plants make sure of getting good flowers/crop in every year.

Play, Enjoy, Learn.

[sahill 10]

Depending on what type your roses are but i'm guessing hybrid teas or floribunda pruing is usually done between nov to feb as they flower on new seasons growth, I take them back to the second or 3rd bud, so quite low, then I feed mine in march with vitax q4 and again in summer and they have been doing really well. Graham Thomas is one of my fave's