Hi,

I just joined this forum as there seem to be a lot of smart gardeners posting here and I desperately need some advice.

I have taken over a very big garden that was once well planted then completely left for several years. I'm currently trying to resurrect any of the plants that I can, and need advice on pruning, as I feel a good pruning this time of year will leave me with a much better chance of helping these guys. However, there are several roses, and two grape vines that I am wary of pruning.

What I need to know is, how hard should I go with the basic old roses, back to just 4 to 5 canes? One of the roses has stunning white flowers, but it is very spindly and prone to disease, do I give up, or can I prune health into it? Another is a climber with two strong canes coming from the ground, and I am not sure how to approach cutting back the spindly/strong canes coming from the main stems. Or maybe I should take it back to the ground? It seems pretty well established.

The old grape vine is really straggly and it's hard to tell what's alive and what's not. I unburied it last year from brambles and strung it up on a trellis made of tree prunings and it fruited, so it's obviously got some go in it. Again, I am really unsure as to how hard to prune the vine, and how to know where to cut. Would I be better off waiting until spring when I can see shoots to guide me?

I'd really appreciate some help with my mammoth project! I have about a million other questions, but these will do for now.

x