Pruning Rose Bushes

[coykiesaol]

I have four rose bushes,( not climbers) which

have finally finished flowering. Can I prune them now or due to the

sudden harsh weather should I wait until spring? I would like to prune

now if possible as they will look a lot tidier

Thanks

[Pierre ZFP]

Better to prune now as it removes the likelyhood of root damage due to the plant rocking about in the wind.

Incidently, in a very long experiment by Kew gardens I think, it was found that lls this 'cut to the third outward facing bud' or whatever it was, is a load of rubbish.  It's just as effective to cut the rose back hard to a suitable level and just straight accross parallel to the ground.  I've been doing this for a while now and it works a treat and much quicker too!

EDIT:  do not compost but burn your rose prunings or you can spread disease around your other plants

[Russethouse]

 Someone once wrote something on here that you should prune your roses in the autumn/winter as if they belonged to your best friend (gently - you are really just shortening to prevent wind rock) but in the spring prune them as if they belong to your worst enemy - cut them down shorter.

I agree with Pierre bit do keep an eye on the centre of the plant to avoid a lot of crossing twiggy stems which encourage disease

[Gardian]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

 but in the spring [/quote]

............. which is just round the corner here!  Everything budding like hell.  Trouble is, there's another cold snap coming next week.[:(]

[Gardengirl]

The egg man in the market kept telling us all that it's 'pas normal', as it was 20 degrees on his terrace on Saturday, and his bushes are budding - nothing good can come of it, according to him! I've also heard that we've got bitter weather coming along Gardian - pity, as we've eaten lunch on the balcony each day since arriving back last week.

I also agree with the rose bush advice - reduce the length of branches around November to prevent wind-rock, then a harder cut as spring arrives. The advice for pruning from Gardeners' Questiontime over recent years does say just to cut across the bushes, rather than carefully pruning back to an outward-facing bud - but I find it diffucult to stop old habits! My neighbour in UK cuts straight across his magnolia stellata too, with OK results, but I still feel the need to carefully trim back each branch on mine - takes hours, but it's a lovely old specimen - it cost about 5/-!

[Araucaria]

The advice I could never quite believe was that there were just two ways to prune roses:

not enough,

and

not nearly enough

So mine are all still rather straggly.

[Jay]

There are about 200,000 Google refs. about how to prune roses.

THIS is a good one although I prefer to watch NATASHA as she is very easy on the eye [;-)]

[Pommier]

I've only got two roses at our new house, both climbers but different varieties.

One of them has lost most of the leaves except at the furthest extremities (where they're still green and healthy looking). The fallen leaves are yellow/orange.

I've now noticed that the lowest leaves on the other rose are changing colour and falling off.

Any clues?

[chrisb]

[quote user="Jay"]There are about 200,000 Google refs. about how to prune roses.

THIS is a good one although I prefer to watch NATASHA as she is very easy on the eye [;-)]

[/quote]

She was talking about pruning roses? My attention seemed to desert me once she put the rubber gloves on.

[Jay]

[quote user="chrisb"]

She was talking about pruning roses? My attention seemed to desert me once she put the rubber gloves on.

[/quote]

Yeah!!

http://www.myspace.com/natashalevi/photos/21003381#{%22ImageId%22%3A21003381}