@Marlorena pictures do speak a thousand words so like you, I’m a big fan of showing what I mean rather than describing it, or maybe it’s my excuse being not very good with words ha!
Thank you for the reassuring comments, you’ve helped me and I’m sure so many others with our rose growing journey, I wouldn’t know what to do otherwise.
I can’t wait to sit out on the balcony come summer when all the roses go into full bloom and my barbecue on the go 😆 I was so lucky to have had calm sunny weather today (and being able to leave work early) in Liverpool to do the pruning. A nice reminder of what is to come.
@Marlorena ha I’ve done that in the first week I arrived in Liverpool about 6 years ago!
By the way, I have a couple more questions regarding pruning
should I prune the thicker canes shorter than those that are thinner? I guess that the thicker games will grow faster when spring comes and may become out of proportion to the rest of the plant?
Secondly, although I have pruned the roses to an outward facing bud some of the more proximal canes are already producing shoots that are ‘inward facing’ towards the centre of the plant - should I l leave them as it is or should I pick them off to prevent branches clogging up the centre of the plant in summer?
@celcius_kkw.... No, there's no need to do any of that really.. they've been pruned enough from what I can see... the shorter thinner canes give balance to the plant and remember, roses need those twiggy little stems, even those that grow inwards and criss cross, as research has shown that the more leaves it has, the more fuel it provides the rose to produce decent flowers... a rose needs a certain number of leaves to produce a good supply of blooms.. Spring pruning can be more drastic as we tidy up our roses, but as the season progresses, it's a mistake to remove small twiggy leaf bearing growth at the centre...
Just looking at your Royal William there, I cannot enlarge pictures now on this forum, but I think you have a short dead cane in the centre that should come out... it's dark brown and woody unless I'm mistaken... take a look at that...
Terrible weather today... I don't suppose you're enjoying tea on your balcony ...
@Marlorena so sorry somehow I’d completely missed your last reply. Now that the storms have passed we’ve had what seemed like the first sunny day in forever here in Liverpool. I managed to clear out four of my window boxes today in preparation for a soon-to-be-here spring and that got me warmed up a little, almost thought about cracking open a bottle of bubbly but sensibility told me to save it for summer instead lol
By the way, I’m literally itching to start mulching and fertilising the roses already, but I know the last frost is meant to be in the last week of March. Also there hasn’t been a tremendous amount of growth on my prune roses yet..
And lastly, I have FINALLY gathered the courage to repot my etoile de hollande to sort out its water logging issues.. I literally emptied the giant pot of all it’s potting mix, stuck a layer of large stones at the bottom, mixed in good amount of sand/grit/and compost to loosen it up and parked the rose back again. It took me almost two hours and a very sore back!
@celcius_kkw Hi Adrian... oh no bother, I often miss posts... there's no need to worry over last frosts, not with woody shrubs like roses... a good guide to feeding roses is to note when the yellow forsythia bushes are blooming in your area... that's a signal it's time to feed your plants.. with new roses just planted, it's best to wait until you see signs of active growth... ..but any time now till end of March is good for your potted roses..
...I know pots can be cumbersome... I've done my back in more than once with these.. one has to take care... best wishes for now...
Posts
..I hope you get the 'Ferry Cross The Mersey' because I'm a sucker for nostalgia...lol..
cheers for now...
should I prune the thicker canes shorter than those that are thinner? I guess that the thicker games will grow faster when spring comes and may become out of proportion to the rest of the plant?
Spring pruning can be more drastic as we tidy up our roses, but as the season progresses, it's a mistake to remove small twiggy leaf bearing growth at the centre...
Just looking at your Royal William there, I cannot enlarge pictures now on this forum, but I think you have a short dead cane in the centre that should come out... it's dark brown and woody unless I'm mistaken... take a look at that...
Terrible weather today... I don't suppose you're enjoying tea on your balcony ...
By the way, I’m literally itching to start mulching and fertilising the roses already, but I know the last frost is meant to be in the last week of March. Also there hasn’t been a tremendous amount of growth on my prune roses yet..
And lastly, I have FINALLY gathered the courage to repot my etoile de hollande to sort out its water logging issues.. I literally emptied the giant pot of all it’s potting mix, stuck a layer of large stones at the bottom, mixed in good amount of sand/grit/and compost to loosen it up and parked the rose back again. It took me almost two hours and a very sore back!
..but any time now till end of March is good for your potted roses..
...I know pots can be cumbersome... I've done my back in more than once with these.. one has to take care... best wishes for now...