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William Shakespeare rose

PotwomanPotwoman Posts: 77
in Problem solving
 I need to  drastically reduce  my 2 large roses      Can I do it now ?   Or do I have to wait till spring ?       They have taken over the entire  south facing border     Thanks in advance  

Posts

  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    IME roses are tough plants and can withstand a bit of mis-management. Obviously this isn't the best time to drastically reduce the size of them (you'll probably have no more blooms this year) but if you really need to do it now then I don't think you'll do them any harm.

    If you can wait until Oct / Nov, I'd trim them then to about two thirds of the size you'd like them to be. Then give them a final prune down to half the desired size in March. I'd give them a water and mulch after each pruning and some rose food in March.

    In following years I'd then prune them to between half and two thirds of the desired size every March and repeat the water, feed, mulch routine.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • PotwomanPotwoman Posts: 77
    thanks.  I did prune them hard in March this year. But they just  flourished beyond control  
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    There’s a gardening saying ‘growth follows the knife’ which means that pruning stimulates new growth. Perhaps a little less radical pruning next year may help? 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I asked Peter Beales Classic Roses what to do about a couple of oversized shrub roses and they said prune down to a foot tall in February/March.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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