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| Hello everyone- This is a cross post from the Texas gardening forum. This picture was taken last October. The roses were planted 3 years ago last fall and last summer they reached the top of the trellis. When I bought them they were categorized as columnar roses that get to be about 8-10 feet tall. I'm pretty comfortable pruning shrub roses, but these are my only trellised roses and I'm not sure what I'm doing. Most things I read advise to bring in the canes and tie them to the structure. Seems like as soon as I do that, there is another one that shoots almost 90 degrees out. A friend recommended taking about 2-3 feet off the tops to encourage it to grow in more at the bottom. When I posted on the Texas forum I was pointed to a very helpful pictoral on the Hartwood roses blog. They also suggested posting here since you all have the most experience. I'm just south of San Antonio if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance - Lisa |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Hi Lisa, Paul Zimmerman has a blog called "Roses are Plants Too" and has a video on pruning roses. He really makes it simple and easy to understand. I must have watched it ten times before I got up the nerve to prune my climbers at first, now it's just easy peasy! |
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| Congratulations! Those look like two very healthy climbers! You're right, tying the canes in will encourage the rose to grow more side canes and those will go outward looking for sun. You can instead trim those side canes back to encourage them to branch out and make the entire structure fuller. As for the bottom, a lot of climbers will get that bare look at the bottom and Dublin Bay did that same thing for me. In order for the rose to send needed water and nutrients all the way to those top limbs it will sacrifice the ones at the bottom. I'd suggest planting another, shorter rose at the base to hide the bare legs of DB. |
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| Thank you both for your responses. I know what you mean Ogrose- when I first started pruning roses I almost cringed when I cut them back. It's gotten easier the longer I've done it. Seil - Thanks! Most of my plants survive in spite of the things I do to them, not because of it :-) I have one more question - do you prune yours just once a year then? Our pruning time is around mid February in this area and then maybe cut out the dead canes in the fall. Is that a good schedule to follow with the Dublin Bay as well? Sorry these questions are so basic. I just really like these roses and want to treat them right. Lisa |
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