The message
from "gareth crawshaw" contains these words:

Hi,

I and my neighbours have (or had until yesterday) a row of wild roses that
were about 5 feet high (4ft deep and 80ft long) along the front of our
gardens. Yesterday, I returned home to discover that the coucil's landscape
gardeners had pruned this row to a height of about four inches...

The question is then, are the plants likely to recover from such a severe
cutting? Thanks for any answers...

They will grow back twice as strong.

Lovely as they are, wild roses have a lot of thorns at eye level on
arching stems, more than most other roses. If they grow alongside a
public path and could obstruct/ scratch pedestrians or even road
cyclists, that's perhaps why they were cut back.

Janet.

Lovely as they are, wild roses have a lot of thorns at eye level on
arching stems, more than most other roses. If they grow alongside a
public path and could obstruct/ scratch pedestrians or even road
cyclists, that's perhaps why they were cut back.

Hi,

Thanks for your answer... It was a question of whether we pull the remains
out if they are not going to grow back and replace them with something a
little less viscious... We normally cut them down at this time of year to
about 12-18 inches, but you are right... they border a public footpath
(although on the other side of the path is a public playing field so really,
there isn't any call for someone brushing by the roses, but I guess that's
not the point!)

Gareth

I do wonder if they ARE wild roses or are they Rosa Rugosa, this is the one
usually planted for boundaries hedging etc
Much larger flowers and a range of colours some flowers semi double.
If they are rugosa then they will come back happily , the problem with them
is that they spread.

--
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

On Sat, 8 Feb 2003 12:27:44 -0000, "gareth crawshaw"
wrote:

I and my neighbours have (or had until yesterday) a row of wild roses that
were about 5 feet high (4ft deep and 80ft long) along the front of our
gardens. Yesterday, I returned home to discover that the coucil's landscape
gardeners had pruned this row to a height of about four inches...

The question is then, are the plants likely to recover from such a severe
cutting? Thanks for any answers...

They'll likely come back more strongly than ever.

Be sure to phone up and complain bitterly about this
state-sponsored vandalism, btw. Municipal offices *hate*
complaints and a good, long whine from you right now may prevent
a repetition.

And don't accept any kind of guff about "hazard to passers by".
Accuse them of being environmental vandals, remind them of the
number of birds' nests destroyed, etc.

If you *really* want to have fun, phone your local newspaper and
see if they'll put a picture on the front page "pruner-wielding
municipal thugs strike again."


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada