Rose early pruning
 

Hi,

If impatient, the bottom-line question is "will I kill a rose if I
prune too early"?

The background is as follows: up here in Scotland the advice is to
prune roses in mid-March, perhaps a bit later. We currently have hard
frosts, and I would not touch my ground-planted roses. However, I have
two large (+35cm diameter) pots against the south-facing wall of the
house, and particularly one of them has new growth up to 5 cm at the
mo (despite the fact that the surface of the compost is frozen-though
not white).

So, am I rightly tempted to prune this one? And will I kill it if it's
hit by even harder frost?

Thanks,
Kostas

Rose early pruning
 

Good morning. I always prune my roses and fruit trees about the 15 th of
February, weather permitting. It seems to me that it is better giving the
plants time to heal over/dry out where I cut, before the bugs are out. The
important thing is to do it while they are still dormant.



"Kostas Kavoussanakis" wrote in message
.np.hx...

Hi,

If impatient, the bottom-line question is "will I kill a rose if I
prune too early"?

The background is as follows: up here in Scotland the advice is to
prune roses in mid-March, perhaps a bit later. We currently have hard
frosts, and I would not touch my ground-planted roses. However, I have
two large (+35cm diameter) pots against the south-facing wall of the
house, and particularly one of them has new growth up to 5 cm at the
mo (despite the fact that the surface of the compost is frozen-though
not white).

So, am I rightly tempted to prune this one? And will I kill it if it's
hit by even harder frost?

Thanks,
Kostas

Rose early pruning
 

On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 09:24:39 +0000, Kostas Kavoussanakis
wrote:


Hi,

If impatient, the bottom-line question is "will I kill a rose if I
prune too early"?

Snip

So, am I rightly tempted to prune this one? And will I kill it if it's
hit by even harder frost?

It's unlikely that you'll kill it, though if things are really cold
you could well get a bit of die back. I would be tempted to leave it
for a little while longer if I were you, I haven't even done ours yet
and it's a fair bit warmer here I would guess.
--
Pete The Gardener
A room without books is like a body without a soul.

Rose early pruning
 

"Pete The Gardener" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 09:24:39 +0000, Kostas Kavoussanakis
wrote:


Hi,

If impatient, the bottom-line question is "will I kill a rose if I
prune too early"?

Snip

So, am I rightly tempted to prune this one? And will I kill it if it's
hit by even harder frost?

Hi Kostas

I'm in Scotland too and I'm itching to get out there and prune the roses.
Trouble is, I did it one year too early (ground and pots) and, as Pete said,
I did get die back and as I had pruned nice n tidy, there wasn't much left
to flower that year. They did ok the following year though so weren't
killed.

I now hang on til mid-March.

--A