chasnewbie wrote:
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?

It sounds like, from your description, that you have a couple of three foot
standard roses.

A standard rose is created by grafting bud wood to the top of a root stock
cane (these are usually some type of vigerous wild rose such as a briar
rose).

Examine the top of the cane you should see a calloused area where the bud
wood is shooting out the growth that has the flowers. Do NOT cut the rose
back beyond this point or you will get no flowers.

I have attached a couple of links that may be of use to you.

http://www.hellohello.com.au/growing...owingrose.html

http://www.swanesgardencare.com.au/Ben_Swane's_Rose_Growing_Tips.html

http://bestgardening.com/bgc/plant/rosesprune02.htm

http://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/Rose-...ng-Pruning.htm