On 26/05/2021 03:50, bilsch01 wrote:
Hello,
We have seven old rose bushes in a row about 3 feet apart. They are 6 to
7 feet tall and not very bushy. I want to make them much shorter and
hopefully bushier over time. I don't want to remove and replace these
bushes. I want to cut them down to 2 feet or less and work from there. I
suppose winter time is best for cutting. Does anyone have advice or
suggestions how I should proceed?

As they are old, I wouldn't want to stress them too much as they should
be in full growth now, despite the cold spring. It might be best to do
this in two stages, by cutting back half the growth to a foot or two
now, and leaving the rest until normal pruning time next winter. They'll
look at bit odd this year (but maybe you'll be starting a trend for
mulit-stemmed standards!), but hopefully you can put up with that.

One other thing you could do is take some prunings and root them, and
put those rooted cuttings in the ground next to the old bush. They
should produce flowers lower down than the original bush, but you'll
have to remember to prune them in winter to keep them that way.

--

Jeff