Winter being the cool climate gardener’s season of choice for pruning roses, I’m preparing for the fray.
Not that I have many roses, but I like to do the job in one hit rather than getting half done and have the rest hanging over me looking reproachful.
If you’re gardening on the tablelands, or inland where roses are dormant in winter, it doesn’t much matter when you prune.
In the southern parts of the state, especially above 1000 metres, you can safely leave the job until September.
But don’t leave it too late if you plan to spray with lime sulphur after pruning to prevent fungal attacks, as lime sulphur is highly alkaline and can burn foliage.
... don’t leave it too late if you plan to spray with lime sulphur after pruning to prevent fungal attacks, as lime sulphur is highly alkaline and can burn foliage.
Putting everything you need into a wheelbarrow the evening before is a mega time saver, as is mentally classifying your roses according to their pruning needs.
Roses that only flower once should be pruned after flowering, normally in late spring, removing only the oldest and weakest wood, so you can safely leave these for the time being.
Also, if you watch your repeat-flowering roses over summer you may find you have some that never need pruning anyway.
The huge, thorny climber Mermaid falls into this category, though be sure to allow her plenty of space.
Back in the garden, cut back David Austin’s English roses by about one-third to one-half and thin a little if necessary.
Prune other bush roses harder, say half to three-quarters, and remove older stems.
These include Hybrid Tea roses, with single, pointy flowers on long stems, and Floribundas that carry flowers in clusters.
Large shrub roses produce long stems from the base. These put out flowering side shoots the following season, and so on until the bush is a network of branching stems, all carrying flowers.
Pruning means crawling into the bush and cutting out the oldest, minutely branching stems. This is easier than it sounds.
Moderate climbers like Renae, Lady Hillingdon and Paul’s Lemon Pillar, to name three out of several zillion, can have last year’s flowering shoots reduced to three or four buds.
Remove old, woody stems and tie in strong, new ones.
If you love roses and grow a seriously large number, take a short cut and prune straight across the top with an electric hedge cutter: ideal for Icebergs.
Remember that constant pruning, especially if drastic, puts a strain on any plant. Most roses become gnarled and woody after 10 to 12 years and new growth becomes weak If this happens it may be time to say goodbye.
If a rose has suckered behind your back and killed off its grafted offspring, it may not be bad news.
Gardener and rosarian Spencer Harvey tells me that Rose Dr Huey is often used as understock and is beautiful in its own right.
You can see Dr Huey growing on a north-east wall at Miss Traill’s House, a National Trust property in Bathurst.
Heads Up: The Roses of Miss Traill’s House and Garden, by Spencer Harvey, is available from the National Trust Shop at Miss Traill’s House, Bathurst (www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/)