I've trying to clear the side flower bed of my incredibly over-run
garden of the house I've just moved into. When we got the place,
everything had got overgrown and I don't think any garden work had
been done for years.

I've cleared the garden and discovered a few rose plants in the flower
bed which I've left. They are about 8" long each. Due to loads of
brambles/time elapsed etc, the bottom 1.25m of the rose stem has no
buds or anything.

I'd like to cut the plant down to a lower height, since now I've
cleared the flower bed, I don't want my roses to be significantly
higher than anything else..

However, I'd also like to try to cause the rose plant to create new
flowers.

oes anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

The message

from Jim contains these words:

I've trying to clear the side flower bed of my incredibly over-run
garden of the house I've just moved into. When we got the place,
everything had got overgrown and I don't think any garden work had
been done for years.

I've cleared the garden and discovered a few rose plants in the flower
bed which I've left. They are about 8" long each. Due to loads of
brambles/time elapsed etc, the bottom 1.25m of the rose stem has no
buds or anything.

I'd like to cut the plant down to a lower height, since now I've
cleared the flower bed, I don't want my roses to be significantly
higher than anything else..

However, I'd also like to try to cause the rose plant to create new
flowers.

oes anyone have any suggestions?

What part of the country are you in?

Climate may have a lot of bearing on what you can prune, and how hard.
(It's the eleventh hour aleady!)

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

On Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:57:19 -0700, Jim wrote:

I'd like to cut the plant down to a lower height, since now I've cleared
the flower bed, I don't want my roses to be significantly higher than
anything else..

However, I'd also like to try to cause the rose plant to create new
flowers.

oes anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Just go ahead and cut them down! There is much printers' ink expended on
how and when to prune roses but experimental evidence shows that it
doesn't matter how and when you prune them, or with what: electric hedge-
clippers proved best in the trials. Sorry, I don't have a reference for
this, I heard it on GQT.

You may well find that some of the growth is from the rootstock (i.e.
below the graft) Remove all that completely. It may take a year or two
but they will recover from your 'brutality'!

"Jim" wrote ...
I've trying to clear the side flower bed of my incredibly over-run
garden of the house I've just moved into. When we got the place,
everything had got overgrown and I don't think any garden work had
been done for years.

I've cleared the garden and discovered a few rose plants in the flower
bed which I've left. They are about 8" long each. Due to loads of
brambles/time elapsed etc, the bottom 1.25m of the rose stem has no
buds or anything.

I'd like to cut the plant down to a lower height, since now I've
cleared the flower bed, I don't want my roses to be significantly
higher than anything else..

However, I'd also like to try to cause the rose plant to create new
flowers.

oes anyone have any suggestions?


You could prune hard now, they should throw up buds from the old wood.
Another way is to bend the stems over back to ground level and pin them
there like hoops, this will encourage flowering shoots all along the stem.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:49:47 -0700, Jim wrote:

You may well find that some of the growth is from the rootstock (i.e.
below the graft) Remove all that completely. It may take a year or two
but they will recover from your 'brutality'!

I'm of a mind to do this - can you expand on what you mean about the
rootstock? did you mean there may be more stems that pop up out of the
earth near the existing stems, and if they pop up to cut them?

Yes, exactly. If you look carefully at the main stem (you may have to
draw back some earth to see it) there will be an obvious 'join' where the
flowering hybrid has been grafted onto a rootstock. The rootstock has a
habit of throwing up 'suckers' which won't flower (or will flower with a
small wild rose like a dog-rose) and take up nutrients that should be
going to the flowering stem.

Traditional advice is to cut at an angle just above a bud but you may
well find there are no buds that low down. Give it time and buds should
form. I'm about to do one in my front garden with long-handled loppers.