Re: Pruning roses

Someone on the California list on gardenweb recently was talking about *not* doing a "winter pruning" and not forcing roses to go dormant. Instead, he said, he keeps them at the size he wants all year, prunes out spindly stems and structural issues as they appear, and as a result does not have extra work in January. But he also says they behave well as drought-resistant plants if given infrequent deep soakings, and says that especially new cvs. don't need tons of fertilizers and amendments.
I do winter pruning for a neighbor, usually between rainstorms sometime between mid-Jan. and mid-Feb. I haven't noticed that the timing of the pruning has much effect on when bloomtime starts. 

I'd go for the gloating.

Tanya
sunset zone 15/17
northern Calif.

At 2:14 PM -0800 1/6/10, Ben Wiswall wrote:
Hi All,
Normally at this time of year I prune the shrub roses back by about half, sacrificing their last batch of flowers so that by Spring they are ready to bloom again on fresh new growth. This year, however, I have relatives visiting on January 17th from the snowbound East, and thought I'd gloat a little with a garden full of rose blossoms. Will I compromise the roses' performance by delaying their annual pruning to the end of January? 
Thanks,
Ben Armentrout-Wiswall
Simi Valley, inland Ventura County
Southern California
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