Re: roses

I never prune my roses here in Iowa when they are dormant...I wait until
spring when new growth has just started so that I can determine where I
want to make my pruning cuts. I must admit that I prune all of my roses
very severely every year...in a humid climate like Iowa's it is very
important to make sure the interior of the rose bush is nice and airy so
I prune to all outward facing bud sprouts and leave only 3 or 4 major
canes to grow...everything else is ruthlessly cut off. This is what I
have spent this past week doing...starting on the pruning of my roses,
all 35 or so of them. Once I leave work this morning, I am on a three
day weekend, so am hoping to go right home from work and start in on
them again (who needs to sleep?--I'd much rather spend this bonus day in
the garden!) I have a problematic variety of shrub roses that I even
prune back to about 10 inches off the ground come about first part of
July every year to rid them of the black spot they invariably beco

me infected with...this second pruning brings on a beautiful lush new
growth for the rest of the blooming season and seems to do the plants no
harm what so ever. Although I am sincerely hoping that the milk and
water treatments I subjected them to last year and once over the winter
will have solved this problem...we'll see.



Melody, IA (Z 5/4)

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."    
--Albert Einstein


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