Hi, I'm no expert with roses, but over the last 2 seasons I have been caring
for the garden of a 92yo neighbour,who's name is Marjorie. Both the front
and rear gardens have boarders of roses, at the last count, 38 of 'em!
Marjorie tells me that the youngest ones are about 30 years old. She's had
to rely on a garden maintenance service for the last 10 years and as a
result the roses have not been cared for ( all other plants were strimmed to
oblivion). Many of the roses had grown to around 7 or 8 feet high with all
the green growth starting 3 to 4 feet above old wood, others had been
strimmed to near submission.

Staring in April 2002 I could only trim out all the dead wood and rip of the
briar wood below the soil that was growing from a few of the shrubs. I then
hoed in plenty of rose feed. through out the summer I just dead headed the
roses until finally in October I guessed it was time to do some serious
pruning. With some trepidation and a rather dry throat, I gulped and took
the plunge. I started by removing all weak and straggerly shoots, the I
decided the centres of the shrubs needed lightening up so I cut out all
shoots growing to the middle. My intention was to reduce all the former
flowering shoots by half and cut them back to the nearest outward facing
bud. I was rather surprised with my efforts, the shrubs looked quite good,
nice shape and much lighter. They were still top heavy though, which
concerned me.

It was a difficult wait over the winter, to see if I managed to destroy 30
or 40 yrs of natures work. In march this year I started to feed all the
roses again, by this time there was plenty of new green growth. By the end
of May, both myself and Marjorie were rewarded to a magnificent display of
blooms on most of the shrubs and those that didn't bloom so well were a
least "shrubbier". But the best thing of all is that many of the taller
shrubs have pushed up quite a few new shoots from the base, which gives me
the hope that I can eventually cut down the tallest of the shrubs and bring
them back to a more manageable height. Marjorie is thrilled to bits with
them, when I can distract her attention from the "Robbie Williams Live from
Wembley" consert she had recorded from the previous evening ( is Marjorie,
at 92 Robbie's most senior fan?).

I actually hated roses, the few roses I have in my own garden, are horrible,
no overall nice shape, a lot of effort for a few meagre flowers and often
"bit" me at the least expected moment, aaaaaw! those dammed
thorns!.........................now where did I put those secateurs?

Jeff





"Judy Donovan" wrote in message
...
Hi,
We inherited a couple of old shrub roses when we moved into our house (I
believe they are Rosa Windrush). They both flower well but unfortunately
they are in a spot that we intend to turn over to vegetables. I'd really
like to keep them and I'm sure we can fit the veg beds around them, but
they
have been supported by an old dilapidated trellis that we need to move now
to start clearing the ground ready for autumn digging. So my questions
a

1. As they're very top heavy they're all the green growth that had
flowers
on is flopping over and I'm worried that the strain will break or damage
the
stems. They're pretty much finished flowering - I know technically it's
not
the right time of year but can I prune them back now to prevent them
getting
damaged?

2. If and when I prune how much can I take off? There's about 3 ft of
old
wood before any flowering shoots start. Is there anything I can do to
encourage new growth lower down the shrub?

Any advice gratefully received!

Many thanks
Judy