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Mature Roses
when we moved to our house 5 years ago there were four large roses in a row, quite magnificent and standing about 5' plus tall. One is a Graham Thomas and is beautiful, but all four have very thick stems and are very woody. All the foliage grows at the top 18" and the stems are more or less bare below. Should I bite the bullet and dig them up and replace them, or should I leave them despite the lack of growth from the ground up and past the middle?
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You can renovate old roses. You do risk losing them, but if your'e prepared to replace them it's worth giving it a go. Cut them back hard to 6 to 8 inches from the ground. Then feed mulch and water them. I'd leave it till spring just before they come into growth, as the coming winter is forecast to be quite cold. Enjoy the display for now.
I would take about a third off the top now then in spring prune properly about a foot off the ground, they will produce new growth and over time grow back so keep them pruned to the height you require. a couple of my old roses were in the way so I cut them down to the ground ready to dig them out, winter interfered with the plans and in spring when I got round to it they were healthy new plants and still going strong, I did not have the heart to get rid of them.
Frank.
I did what Dave above said to 2 old roses, over 20 years old, one is Penelope and they've grown back bushily. I hadn't dared prune them before because I had a problem with deer eating the lower shoots. OH then fenced the flower garden so I cut the roses right down last spring.
TM, replacing them with other roses could give you Rose Repeat disease. There are ways round that, but it is a bit of a faff. Much easier to renovate.