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Roses and Honeysuckle, How Hard to Prune & When?

februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
in Plants
I bought two roses this year (Rosa Primula and Rose Rugosa Alba) and a honeysuckle (Lonicera Tellmanniana). I'm putting an obelisk around them so I can shape them (and in the case of the honeysuckle, make it easier to direct towards the fence) and really need to cut back as much as possible to get a fresh start. How low can I go with these particular plants and when is the best time to prune them?

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Hello februarysgirl,

    I suggest you repost your query on the main Rose thread Autumn and Winter 2021 where the rose experts will see it quicker and hopefully give you some good advice.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I've just pruned 2 big honeysuckles down to about 2 foot tall. They were full of dead wood and needed a fresh start. I don't even know if it's the right time, but I did it before with a different one and it was fine.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Both lovely roses, but I’m not sure they are candidates for obelisks, species roses tend to get rather large and resent pruning and shaping, at least in the early years. Advice is generally to leave them to their own devices apart from pruning out any dead, diseased or feeble growth. However, since I don’t grow either, hopefully someone that does will chip in 😊 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    I have rugosa roses which I grew from seed. I let them get established and now I cut them back to about 6 inches in late winter, early spring when I see signs of life. They grow to about 4ft high, flower like mad and make beautiful hips. They wouldn't be suitable for an obelisk, though, because if they are left to grow they just get into a tangled mess.
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    Bit late in the day for replies, I started work on a living room makeover and everything garden related went swiftly out the window. 

    @Lizzie27 I did ask a different rose related question on there a while back and never had a reply so thought it best to widen the net.

    @Busy-Lizzie Mine's fairly young and ideally I'd like to cut it back to point where I have greater control over the direction it grows again. It'd definitely need to be lower than 60cm but I couldn't really give a ball park at the moment as it's under a fleece jacket because it was starting to come into leaf.

    @Nollie The obelisks are only a temporary measure to get the stems going in the general direction I'm after as at the moment, they're a bit haphazard. The obelisks themselves are just cheap willow ones so can be cut out if necessary. The intention is to leave them to their own devices once them stems are less wayward.

    @Posy 6 inches would probably be about right, the stems don't start to get haphazard until a bit taller. I got a couple of flowers last year although I wasn't expecting any as it was a tad late in the season. Didn't get any hips though 😞
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