Help with a French Rose

Hello! First time poster and gardening novice here, hoping to get some help with a rose bush in our new garden. I believe it’s a French rose; it had the most beautiful bloom of pink striped flowers in the summer…however, it now looks very ‘sick’ and I need some advice on what to do. It has black spot…which is spreading to the new shoots. So, my questions are- what do I do about the back spot, do I prune it, and if so, how far back? It’s quite bare at the bottom and the whole bush is about 4ft high.

id greatly appreciate any advice!


Thanks

 

Hello Kat76 and welcome to GC November is the recommended month to autumn prune roses, so we're nearly there. Try to do it during a dry spell, to prevent die-back of the stems. Firstly, take out all the weak, spindly and crossing stems. Then, using loppers or a pruning saw if you've got some, remove a couple of the oldest, woodiest branches right down to about 15-20cm. When you've done that, have a good, hard look at the shape of the bush and remove about half the length of the remaining stems, cutting to an outward-facing bud or shoot. If you see any stems with black stains/marks on them, cut them out too. That should leave you with a nicely-balanced framework. Then, clear up all the fallen leaves and if possible, mulch for 40-50cm all around without letting the mulch touch the stems. That will smother the blackspot spores so it's less likely to get re-infected next year. Roses love well-rotted farmyard manure but almost any mulch will do.

 

@noisette47 has just said what I was going to say! I wouldn't worry about the black spot, a lot roses will have it at the end of the season. Hopefully, when it starts growth next year, it will be clear of it but it will probably get it again.

I think your rose could be Rosa Mundi, a very old French rose, it has longish leaves and flowers once. I think it's a Gallica rose. Other roses have been bred from it though.

 

This is the one that always springs to my mind because I can't help but think of pilchards
Ferdinand Pichard - Yahoo France Résultats de recherche

 

Thank you so much! That’s all really informative and helpful…I shall get started in a couple of weeks