Hi There,

As you can see from my login name, I'm pretty new to gardening in general and roses in particular and have a problem I hope someone can help with.

We have inherited a couple of rose trees (the best way to describe them) from the previous owners of our house. The problem is, they've been left to their own devices and have subsequently become very tall and thin, approximately 8 or 9 feet. At the business end of each, there are a lot of great blooms but I'd ideally like to cut them right back and start from scratch to get a bush rather than a tree.

I don't think I'd have a problem if there were various stems dividing from the base but, rather like a tree, it's almost trunk-like and there are no divisons for the first three feet or so. I've a feeling that if i cut it back to where I'd like (almost soil level) I'd kill it and pruning back to where the stem begins to divide just wouldn't look right.

In a nutshell, is it possible to cut right back, or do I just cut my losses and remove it and plane something else?