Hoping for a Peter Beales discount soon, as sales have apparently been slow. Marchenzauber, Bordure Camaieu and Designer Sunset are all whispering my name.🙄
Good work buying perennials, Vic... would be horrifically rude not to after they went to the trouble of sending you the email.
Boule de Neige The Lark Ascending Heritage Emily Bronte (atypical)
There was someone else growing Ali Baba. I have two growing on each side of an arch and I find the flowers completely floppy, every little twig has to be tied in. Does anyone know if this improves over the years?
Belle de Jour
Aloha (another climber that doesn’t want to climb)
@newbie77 - I did a little pruning today but only to take cuttings. Got two from Munstead Wood and three from Gabriel Oak. Black pot MW, red pot GO (that’s for my own future reference)
I always prune on or just after Valentine’s Day, although I may need to take off some longer canes before then if they’re flapping about (as Nollie suggested)
I also picked off some leaves which looked like they were just waiting to drop off anyway.
I need to weed and also thin out some seedlings. When the foxgloves finished, I cut the stems and then gave them a good shake all over. Low and behold I have hundreds of tiny foxgloves everywhere. Need to remove all the badly placed ones, thin others and once they’re larger transplant some.
@owd potter to make it easy for pruning first year David Austin roses make yourself a measuring gauge from a garden cane. Cut a piece of cane 15 inches long, put it an inch into the ground next to your rose and then cut the canes of you rose down to the same height as your measuring gauge. It doesn’t matter about cutting above a bud. In subsequent years you then cut the rose down by half removing any dead, crossing or weak growth.
That does not hold for climbing or rambling roses.
Ah, found it! All this talk of pruning reminded me I meant to add to Fire’s comment.
[Edited to say my requotes don’t seem to be showing up/working, I’m commenting on @rossdriscoll13’s earlier advice to cut down DA first year roses to 14”]
I would add, Ross, with apologies for stating the bleeding obvious, that this also doesn’t apply to shrub roses you are growing as climbers, as many DA’s can be.
Nor to their once-blooming shrub roses where you need to build up a decent framework over several years, so pruning this short will mean you will set them back to ground zero and potentially lose your blooms altogether the next year if they flower on old wood.
From (bitter!) experience I would also advise against harsh pruning of the larger, arching shrubs because it doesn’t work trying to force them into a compact shrub shape against their will - best to give them space to be themselves and use supports where necessary.
Rules of thumb are useful and it’s true too timid pruning can result in weak, gangly rose bushes. However, I feel it’s better to assess each shrub individually and prune accordingly rather than stick to a rigid 14” size guide - they are all different with different growth speeds and habits.
For repeat flowering shrubs that you are keeping as shrubs, if in doubt, probably best to follow DA’s own guidance of pruning during the dormant season by half if you want a smaller shrub or by a third if you want a larger one, aiming for an open, rounded shape. At the same time, removing any dead, diseased, dying, crossing or weak canes. Once-bloomers should be pruned only lightly in the first couple of years and, once established, can be pruned back by a third if required.
This is just my take anyway. There are no hard and fast rules and they’re your roses so prune them how you want to!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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Code VIPTEN gives 10% off any new bareoot order from Trevor White placed before Feb 1st 2023
Claire Austin, not as lemony as usual
And the bottom one is a very vibrant Pink Flower Carpet
My garden has turned distinctly soggy and autumnal now; this one fades into winter in a nice manner, Harkness climber Summer Sweetheart.
I just found an email from Elizabeth MacGregor Nurseries in my junk and ended up ordering a dozen new perennials. I have no planned spaces for them
Good work buying perennials, Vic... would be horrifically rude not to after they went to the trouble of sending you the email.
Boule de Neige
The Lark Ascending
Heritage
Emily Bronte (atypical)
I always prune on or just after Valentine’s Day, although I may need to take off some longer canes before then if they’re flapping about (as Nollie suggested)
I also picked off some leaves which looked like they were just waiting to drop off anyway.
I need to weed and also thin out some seedlings. When the foxgloves finished, I cut the stems and then gave them a good shake all over. Low and behold I have hundreds of tiny foxgloves everywhere. Need to remove all the badly placed ones, thin others and once they’re larger transplant some.
I would add, Ross, with apologies for stating the bleeding obvious, that this also doesn’t apply to shrub roses you are growing as climbers, as many DA’s can be.
Nor to their once-blooming shrub roses where you need to build up a decent framework over several years, so pruning this short will mean you will set them back to ground zero and potentially lose your blooms altogether the next year if they flower on old wood.
From (bitter!) experience I would also advise against harsh pruning of the larger, arching shrubs because it doesn’t work trying to force them into a compact shrub shape against their will - best to give them space to be themselves and use supports where necessary.
Rules of thumb are useful and it’s true too timid pruning can result in weak, gangly rose bushes. However, I feel it’s better to assess each shrub individually and prune accordingly rather than stick to a rigid 14” size guide - they are all different with different growth speeds and habits.
For repeat flowering shrubs that you are keeping as shrubs, if in doubt, probably best to follow DA’s own guidance of pruning during the dormant season by half if you want a smaller shrub or by a third if you want a larger one, aiming for an open, rounded shape. At the same time, removing any dead, diseased, dying, crossing or weak canes. Once-bloomers should be pruned only lightly in the first couple of years and, once established, can be pruned back by a third if required.
This is just my take anyway. There are no hard and fast rules and they’re your roses so prune them how you want to!