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Too late to prune roses?

siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
in Plants
Due to various personal issues at the end of last year I never got round to pruning the roses in our garden in the autumn. The year before I gave them a good hard prune because they were very unkempt and leggy with the few flower they had right up high where you couldnt really enjoy them and nothing lower down.

I've noticed today that they've got quite a lot of new shoots on and looking like they'll do really well this year... However again the new growth is all at the top/ends and the lower stems are completely bare. 

If I gave them a proper cut back now, would it make them less prolific for flowering this year or have they still time to recover? 

I'm afraid I don't know what type of roses they are, we inherited them when we moved in. 

Any tips welcome ☺️



Posts

  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
    I know nothing about roses but.........

    If it was me I would prune one stem very hard another stem not so much and leave the rest and NOTE what happens by Autumn

    Experiments bring gardeners closer to their charges.

    You will get some expert advice from GW and hope all goes well this season
    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    No it's not too late to prune it, but your rose is looking good, and all I would do there is to bring those topmost canes down towards the horizontal, and below the top of the fence line, just tying them to the fence panels with string.. 
    Without knowing the name or type of rose, I would be cautious in being more specific...  and prefer to wait until it is in flower so we get more idea of what type of rose you have there..
    There is no obligation to prune it,  but tying those canes more horizontally will cause buds to break along the canes giving you more flowers, so they won't all appear at the top... do give this a try... otherwise it's doing very well...
    East Anglia, England
  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    @Marlorena thank you! I was hoping you would reply ☺️
    I had noticed another rose that I tied horizontally last year has lots of side shoots now, so I'll definitely give that a go with this one too! 
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    @siananigans ..that's ok, thank you... can you remember the colour of this rose? were the blooms white and scented by any chance?... 
    East Anglia, England
  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    They were white/cream... But I don't remember them being especially scented. @Marlorena I've had a look through my photos from last year and I think this is a photo of it. 
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    ..looks nice.. I like the glossy foliage but I don't know it at the moment from that picture. but we look forward to seeing it in full bloom during summer...  if you know where it was obtained from, this can help with i.d..
    East Anglia, England
  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    @Marlorena I don't know where it came from unfortunately, no info about the garden left for us at all.
    We've finally got around to painting the fence where this rose is over the past few days so I'll get some wires up (when we can find the wire in the shed 🙈) and try and get the canes tied down more horizontal. 
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