When do you prune your roses?

Just out of curiosity - when do you prune your roses? Are you an autumn pruner or do you prune later? I do mine in February, but others near me hack their's down to a few inches in October or even earlier.

 

A tidying prune in autumn, and then the proper prune in Feb.

 

Depends on how open to the wind the roses are, HB. If they're exposed, I cut them down quite a bit in the autumn to avoid wind-rock. Otherwise I do the same as BM.

 

One of the reasons I asked the question was related to black spot.

Some of my roses still have their leaves and some have black spot which is a fungal infection. Previously, all leaves would have fallen by now and infected leaves cleared away. If infected leaves are going to survive on the plants all winter, then black spot is more likely to re-infect new leaves in the spring.

Maybe I'll have to think about autumn pruning, but that will remove the flowers which were blooming throughout December and some still in January.

Decisions, decisions!

 

Ive done both in the last 3 years and have decided to do what BM said in future - a tidy-up in the autumn and proper prune in Feb.. My dad did his in Feb and they were always gorgeous

 

In your place, HB, I think I'd go for getting rid of the blackspot, even if it is at the expense of getting the blooms. Health would come first. The problems of warmer winters show up in all these hidden ways - a great pity, when the natural solutions can't be relied on any more..... :(

 

i always cut back half hight in the autumn and final cut back early spring the first cut back helps the plants survive wind rock

 

Was just about to ask this queston actually!
Here in the north-I saw some roses cut down in the begining of the winter when it was dead cold,while in my country we prune them at the begining of the spring,when it's warmer.
I was planning to prune my roses soon,but some of them still have flowers (inspite of the Scottish weather!),so it's a shame to let them go to waste
By the way-
If there's a hybrid that's gone all "mad" and has these long,bright green,flowerless branches-
(we call them "pigs"!)
Should i cut it all off?
or maybe try to pull it out?
it's quite an old plant and hasn't been taken care of for many years
(granny with arthritis)

 

I'm an autumn hacker :D Lof off the top 3/4 with gay abandon then in early spring I do a carefull prune of any dead shoots or wayward buds. Removing most of the top growth helps prevent wind rock over the winter but leaves enough to protect the crown during hard snaps. A spring haircut then gets them tidy and ready for summer.

I'm also rigerous about removeing any dead leaves and bits of prunings as they harbour disease and can be really painfull if you snag one lurking in the soil while weeding.

Edit:

gardengnom:

If you like the flowers then I would cut everything right down to about 150mm (6") above the ground, later in the spring when growth gets underway give a good feed of blood fish and bone, fork in, then mulch and see how it goes. If it survives OK then well and good and if not you can remove it later.

Old roses that have been well established don't normally just 'pull out' if they are otherwise healthy. Last ones I had to deal were pick axe jobs!

[ 02. February 2007, 08:45 AM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

Me - I reduce height by about half in the autumn - and then prune for shape and remove dead and spindly growth at the end of February.

I got guite a lot of new growth showing now, so I may wait til after this next cold snap and do my spring pruning then.

My granny used to quote the third week in March, but our warmer winters, I think makes this too late.

 

I give my taller roses a prune in nov so as to avoid windrock, but i give all my roses a good prune in feb. I shall be doing it in a couple of weeks, when i have moved them all to the formal rose garden i am just creating. Their new location is much more sheltered and therefore in the future the nov prune is less likely to be neccessary. But i always take cuttings from the prunings when ever i do it.

 

Whtas the latest I can prune them cos I cant stand without a crutch at the mo and the thought of talking Mr M through it leaves me very cold indeed

 

Early March...... you should be ok, Marge. If you can do it earlier, do - but don't leave it too long!

 

Theres a lot of shoots on them now - praps I had better start coaching MrM now :D

 

Seems to me like the flowering season has gone mad this last year or two. We were able to pick 6 varieties for the Xmas table, Iceberg continued until early february. Calypso (Poulsclimb) after flowering until Xmas flowered again mid april, closely followed by Ard's Rover and Ferdinand Pichard; the last two did finish in october though. So when best to prune? As soon as the last flower goes?
Cheers MIKE