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Rose ID and pruning help
Sam Jesson
Posts: 121
in Plants
0
Sam Jesson
Posts: 121
Sam Jesson
Posts: 121
Posts
No way of identifying that rose at this time of year Sam - we need to see flowers - colour, petals, shape, bud shape, stamens colour of young foliage, all sorts of things and then there are so very many different roses.
However, to rejuvenate it, I think I'd cut out all the weak twiggy growth, and cut the main stems back to about 18" tall, pruning to an outward facing bud, but I'd do it in late February, early March. Not now.
Give it a mulch of well rotted manure now (around it, not touching the stems) and after pruning in the spring give it a feed of Fish, Blood and Bone.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
very helpful again Dove, thanks!
Sam it looks like an old shrub rose. Rejuvenating an old rose is very easy, but it takes a bit of faith and courage. You need to stimulate the dormant buds at the base which you can do now. It looks to have gone dormant so cut back the whole plant to six inches from the base. Take out completely the older thicker stems to ground level then mulch what's left so that the only thing showing is about an inch of and lesser stems. In spring give it a generous feed and you'll get new growth shooting up, probably red stems which you just let grow till they start to go green. After that treat as any shrub rose and prune accordingly. Nothings going to happen till spring so if you want to wait till spring you can but usually I do any rejuvenating now they get a head start if done now.