As I mentioned a while ago my wife who died in April was the gardener
of the house,And me ,well I used to think the garden looked after
itself. Anyway Ive managed to keep the gardens really nice throughout
the summer ,but I still have little or no knowledge. Anyway the roses
are now looking very untidy and Im wondering if i need to prune them
before or after the winter,and if so has any one got any instructions
on doing this. Ive got three climbing roses and the rest are just
normal ones apart from the two I bought in the summer one of which
was called sweet Valentine I think. Anyway please excuse my lack of
knowledge on gardening Dave. Oh one last question,now the winters on
its way Ive replaced the summer plants at her grave with winter
pansies,are there any other plants that will flower over the winter
that I can put in pots?.

"Dave" wrote
As I mentioned a while ago my wife who died in April was the
gardener
of the house,And me ,well I used to think the garden looked after
itself. Anyway Ive managed to keep the gardens really nice
throughout
the summer ,but I still have little or no knowledge. Anyway the
roses
are now looking very untidy and Im wondering if i need to prune
them
before or after the winter,and if so has any one got any
instructions
on doing this. Ive got three climbing roses and the rest are just
normal ones apart from the two I bought in the summer one of which
was called sweet Valentine I think. Anyway please excuse my lack of
knowledge on gardening Dave. Oh one last question,now the winters on
its way Ive replaced the summer plants at her grave with winter
pansies,are there any other plants that will flower over the winter
that I can put in pots?.


I personally prune them in late autumn just to tidy them up a bit for
the winter. I remove dead wood and cut back the stems to about half of
what they were. Then I prune them back even more in spring when they
are just about to start growing again. This has the advantage of
looking neat over the winter and any frost damage that might occur can
be removed in spring.

Plus lots of info on rose pruning at :
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/plantf...se_5.asp#rose_
prune

You could use some heathers for your wife's grave.
Or cyclamens : http://tinyurl.com/oxpu
You could also plant some snowdrops/crocuses/mini daffs to be ready
for early spring.
Another possibility is perhaps some sort of dried arrangement under a
glass cover ?
Or even plastic flowers ?

Jenny

"Dave" wrote in message
...
: As I mentioned a while ago my wife who died in April was the gardener
: of the house,And me ,well I used to think the garden looked after
: itself. Anyway Ive managed to keep the gardens really nice throughout
: the summer ,but I still have little or no knowledge. Anyway the roses
: are now looking very untidy and Im wondering if i need to prune them
: before or after the winter,and if so has any one got any instructions
: on doing this. Ive got three climbing roses and the rest are just
: normal ones apart from the two I bought in the summer one of which
: was called sweet Valentine I think. Anyway please excuse my lack of
: knowledge on gardening Dave. Oh one last question,now the winters on
: its way Ive replaced the summer plants at her grave with winter
: pansies,are there any other plants that will flower over the winter
: that I can put in pots?.

Most of the books I've read recommend tidying up the roses at this time of
year by just pruning lightly any long shoots, so that if there are high
winds they won't become unstable. They should then be pruned properly in
Feb/early March.

You could try polyanthus/primulas on the grave as they give a nice splash of
colour.

Hope this helps

K

"JennyC" wrote in message
...

"Dave" wrote
As I mentioned a while ago my wife who died in April was the
gardener
of the house,And me ,well I used to think the garden looked after
itself. Anyway Ive managed to keep the gardens really nice
throughout
the summer ,but I still have little or no knowledge. Anyway the
roses
are now looking very untidy and Im wondering if i need to prune
them
before or after the winter,and if so has any one got any
instructions
on doing this. Ive got three climbing roses and the rest are just
normal ones apart from the two I bought in the summer one of which
was called sweet Valentine I think. Anyway please excuse my lack of
knowledge on gardening Dave. Oh one last question,now the winters on
its way Ive replaced the summer plants at her grave with winter
pansies,are there any other plants that will flower over the winter
that I can put in pots?.


I personally prune them in late autumn just to tidy them up a bit for
the winter. I remove dead wood and cut back the stems to about half of
what they were. Then I prune them back even more in spring when they
are just about to start growing again. This has the advantage of
looking neat over the winter and any frost damage that might occur can
be removed in spring.

In our part of the world an even bigger advantage of preliminary pruning in
the autumn is that it minimises wind rocking in the winter.

[snip]
Franz

Thanks for all the replies.. Dave

In article , JennyC
writes
I personally prune them in late autumn just to tidy them up a bit for
the winter. I remove dead wood and cut back the stems to about half of
what they were. Then I prune them back even more in spring when they
are just about to start growing again. This has the advantage of
looking neat over the winter and any frost damage that might occur can
be removed in spring.

Yes, I do this too, despite the fact that many experts advise against
it. The expert thinking is that autumn pruning will stimulate frost-
tender growth. In the same way, oldtimers will never feed after the
middle of August. I say pshaw, and have never lost a plant to frost.
But it's down to climate - I'm in Oxford, btw.

David Austin's English roses in particular IMHO need autumn tidying - I
probably take a third rather than a half - and a further trim in March.
Same for hybrid musks, bourbons and HTs and floribundas, plus any
repeating climbers.
--
Jane Lumley

In article , Dave
writes
Oh one last question,now the winters on
its way Ive replaced the summer plants at her grave with winter
pansies,are there any other plants that will flower over the winter
that I can put in pots?.

Hellebores, esp. Helleborus niger (christmas rose).

Winter aconite.

Snowdrop.
--
Jane Lumley

The message
from Jane Lumley contains these words:

plus any
repeating climbers.

Don't they tend to fall off rock-faces when they do?

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm