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Pruning a neglected climbing rose

BaryonyxBaryonyx Posts: 6
in Problem solving
Hi,

I’m new here and hoping for some advice on how to prune/shape this beautiful but neglected rose.

Having neglected it for the best part of the past 10 years I recently decided to give it a prune/tidy it up and that’s when I realised it’s actually a climbing rose (planted by previous owner and not tied in/no trellis/wires when we moved in).

There was one newish branch that I’ve tied onto the clematis trellis but all the other branches are older and more woody. 

I’ve cut out a large old woody stem that wasn’t producing flowers but now I’m stuck. How do I tackle the rest?! 

It flowers beautifully all summer long and I’d love to look after it a bit more!

I know I will need some wires but definitely wouldn’t be able to tie in any of the remaining branches. I think the branch marked A needs to go as looks old/woody/?diseased in places but where do I chop? Chopping at B gets rid of the unhappy stem but retains two others which appear healthy (though still not tie-in-able!), chopping at C retains one stem but loses another which is growing out towards the driveway and cutting at D just gets rid of the lot but feels a bit scary!


Posts

  • BaryonyxBaryonyx Posts: 6
    Oops labelled photo didn’t upload
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Personally I would be inclined to cut at 'C'. I would also try to tie down the left hand young shoot as far down to the horizontal as it will gently go and do the same to the upper left hand shoot. You should then hopefully get new vertical shoots sprouting from these two horizontal branches. As the new shoots grow, try to fan these out along the trellis as well. 
    If you wanted to put up more trellis to the right of the existing, you might have to take the plunge and cut at 'D', although you could put up wires (which are actually better for roses than trellis) instead.
    I should add that I'm no rose pruning expert and perhaps you should wait for better guidance!
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,351
    What I would do:
    - Tying the young cane on the left more horizontally.
    - Tying the cane just above it also slightly more horizontally, if possible, and its lateral too.
    My problem with the canes on the right is not their age but the fact of how close they are and that they are growing in the same direction.
    I would try to train the lower cane as much down as possible. If this goes well, I would cut the other cane somewhere close to A or just above. If it is not possible, I would consider removing that cane at B or C.
    There is also some dead wood that needs to be removed.
  • Mr. Vine EyeMr. Vine Eye Posts: 2,394
    Red cuts for definite - get rid of the wayward canes and top the one that’s within the trellis to encourage development of canes from lower down - these can then be tied in horizontally.

    If I was feeling braver:
    Blue - to encourage canes from further down still.

    Yellow if I’d had some liquid courage! 😁

    Personwlly I’d do blue, because that’s giving the most encouragement for new canes from the base whilst not being too dramatic.

    If I got fresh canes developing from ground level, then I would then next year cut back further to remove those older sections completely.





    East Yorkshire
  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    It's a bit tricky because you haven't got much left to play with if you cut at yellow, but I agree with @Mr. Vine Eye that the savage cut is ultimately necessary, Dutch courage or no :wink:

    You need more canes from the base to make it look halfway decent. As a matter of fact I was just making refresher notes on this in order to tackle a 'Cornelia' in my garden, from the RHS advice page, which is very helpful.

    Renovating overgrown climbing roses

    • Remove all dead, diseased, dying and weak shoots
    • Cut some of the old woody branches to the ground, retaining a maximum of six young, vigorous stems that can be secured to supports
    • Saw away any dead stumps at the base of the plant, where rain can collect and encourage rot
    • Shorten side shoots on the remaining branches and prune back the tips by one third to one half, to encourage branching
    • Give pruned plants a boost in the following spring by spreading a granular rose fertiliser over the soil and mulch them with a 5cm (2in) layer of garden compost or well rotted manure
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I would go for the blue cut above.
  • BaryonyxBaryonyx Posts: 6
    Thank you all for your advice. When I took the original photo I’d thought about making the red cuts and decided that was too radical!!
    I’ll do it tomorrow and will probably go blue, unless I wimp out!

    thanks again
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