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Pruning Meidiland roses
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Posted by stevation z6 Utah (My Page) on Fri, Mar 7, 08 at 0:20
| The post about Meilland roses brought up a question of mine, but when I posted it there, it didn't get any response. Sorry, in retrospect, I guess it may have looked like I was hijacking that thread. Didn't mean to.
I'm growing a low hedge of about six ruby Meidiland roses, and I've usually pruned them to about 18" canes each spring. I had read before that any cutting should be done all the way to the ground, but I just didn't trust that I should really cut them that hard.
I've read recently that they can do fine with no pruning at all -- is that 100% true? Or will they flower better if they have more new wood by cutting off last year's long canes? I have to say mine have flowered quite well with regular pruning. Here's a photo from last July. They have a fairly long bloom season in early-mid summer.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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| I think for any rose there are just two key pruning steps: 1) You need to prune any dead or damaged wood back to healthy wood and 2) You should practice renewal pruning where you prune several of the older canes all the way back to ground level, to keep the plant growing mostly on wood which is younger than 4 or 5 years. This last step can be difficult on bushy plants like the Meidilands and I would do this as the last thing after the rest of the pruning is done. The rest of the pruning is up to you and how you want to shape the plant. My approach with Meidilands would probably be to take some shears to the plant and reduce its size by about about half - or more, depending on how large a shrub I wanted. |
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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| One of the beautiful things about the Ruby Meidiland is the long, arching canes that it gets. Not all of its branches are like that, as you can tell in the photo, but I sure like them when they do that. So, it sounds like you're saying it will still continue to flower well on those long canes but I should be careful about letting them get too old (4 or 5 years). Is that right? I do have some room here to let them grow, and on the front side, they spill over a boulder retaining wall, which looks nice. So, I probably won't shear them. Anyone else have experience with growing Meidilands and not pruning them like traditional roses? Any results you can share about how well they flower on older canes? |
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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| Ruby Meidiland belongs in the landscape series of Meidiland roses. I’ve grown Scarlet, Alba and Fuchsia Meidiland for the graceful cascading effect with hardly any pruning, except dead canes. Arching canes build upon arching canes resulting in fountain shape when they mature. Oldest canes (usually closer to the ground) eventually die out. Awkward growing canes can be tied to other canes or pruned as I see fit. Any portion of the canes or branches that are 3 years or older and have had no blooms or no new canes sprouting from them can be pruned if I have time to prune them. 2-4 year old canes flower best. These are large rose shrubs that need lot of space to show their full cascading potential, and they’re not supposed to be pruned back to 18" every year, unless you have space constraint and want upright growths – but then there many other roses for smaller space. You have a great Meidiland hedge. Cascading effect can be quickly achieved if you just deadhead the spent clusters and let the new growths take shape. |
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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| I have Scarlet and Fuschia, both cascading into my driveway. Besides cleaning out dead wood, the only pruning mine get is when they get caught in the car door or window or get driven over. By the way, I assume your concept of "traditional" roses is modern hybrid teas, since the real traditional roses, ie, antique/old garden roses rarely need or want heavy pruning--again, just dead wood clean-up and shaping. |
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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| Hey, I just wanted to follow up and say thanks, especially to Roseleaf, for encouragement to let my Meidiland roses grow this year without pruning. The result was outstanding, as they grew longer canes and cascaded over a rock wall with a very impressive display of flowers this year. They also continued to have sporadic blooms until late November this year! What amazing roses. Here's a photo from their peak bloom in early July: 
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RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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| So weird -- it let me post the message above, but the thread never showed up as having a new entry on the forum. Maybe it will now? |
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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- Posted by hoovb z9 Southern CA (My Page) on
Tue, Dec 9, 08 at 10:21
| You might need to take them down to 18" every few years to restore their vigor & clean out any dead wood build up. They look great! |
RE: Pruning Meidiland roses
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Stevation - what a timely post! I have been looking for roses to plant next spring to cascade over a retaining wall, and love how how the Meidilands are performing for you. Thank you for posting the pruning info and pic.
-terry |
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