Re: [Rose-list] Pruning Experiment

**j*@uswest.net**

Hi Carleen,
You mentioned that new roses should not be cut down to the 6 inches of
new growth per year?  Does this also pertain to climbers?
Thanks,
Julie in Utah

rosenlund wrote:

> I just finished John Scarman's wonderful book "Gardening with Old
> Roses".  He talks about pruning the roses 3 times a year.  So, I did
> an experiment (of sorts) with two of my "Red Yankton" roses [Found
> roses that are thick with canes and act a bit like a Gallica, though
> I've not been able to ID it yet.]   They are once blooming. One rose
> I pruned (my favorite part of gardening) just as he said and the
> other I tried my best to restrain and prune only once as you would
> most old once blooming roses.
>
> I would highly recommend you read this part of his book if your
> interested as it gets into great detail with good pictures.
> Basically it goes like this with the ONCE blooming old roses.
> (slightly different with repeats and not at all with rugosas).
>
> First pruning is removing the "vegetative growth" to the flowering
> height to "shape the bush" and return it to neat form; done just as
> the blooms are opening.  Second pruning is in late summer after
> blooming, and again removing "vegetative growth" (usually a target
> for aphids and mildew anyhow) is pruned back to the flowering height
> for neatness; he calls this architectural appearance.  Final pruning
> is done anytime between autumn and spring to the ''pruning height" as
> you should normally do.
>
> Overall I loved the neater appearance of the 3x pruned rose all year
> long. Now that rose is a well formed rounded bush, were as the
> ''control'' rose (I confess, I did prune it some at the 2nd pruning
> as I just couldn't stand it, but just a little) is nice at the top,
> but has more than a foot of ''bare'' cane growth in the middle and is
> now getting floppy with rain, foliage and wind. It also appears that
> the 3x pruned rose has more buds, but it could be that they are just
> easier to see in a neater "package", so I was thrilled that it in no
> way lessened the blooms.  I'm a believer.
>
> He also suggests that new roses should NOT be allowed to gain more
> that 6 inches in height each year. I'm less strict on this one..but
> along with the ''control'' rose, I have 5 or 6 others that should
> have been pruned harder, which I will do this year.
>
> Sincerely,
> ~Carleen~
> Keeper of Sheep & Old Roses
>
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