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| Keeping in mind the previous post that asked if climbers could be grown free-standing, I have a similar question. We replaced the fence that the climbers grew next to on their trellises. We removed the trellises and cut the roses way back to about a foot from the ground so the fence guys could do their job. Now, I have all my climbers free-standing, as they said we could stain the fence to keep the nice redwood color, but the new fence wood has to dry for 2 months first. So--Graham Thomas is my primary worry as it has long arching canes as the season progresses. Could I pinch the shoots now to keep it more compact, or would that not help at all? I am thinking maybe a pinch will still result in just one stem coming out and maybe this won't work at all. Anyone know? So far, the other climbers are very full and bushy and upright. If I have to prune back at staining time, so be it. The others are America, Dublin Bay, Candy Cane, Eye Paint, and the very young Night Owl. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| My experience in attempting to do what you are suggesting is it will only slow them down a little while, and create another "dog leg" in that cane. But, the bottom line is, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, whether the "experts" suggest not doing it or not. The roses are going to survive the whole process. They may, or may not, look as pretty for a season as you want, but the important issues are securing that fence so it lasts for many years to come and preventing you and anyone else who is cursed to have to work on the fence around your prickly monsters from being eaten and bloodied by them. Just keep the roses out of the way until you can finish the fence, then have fun trying to teach the roses to eat the fence, again. Good luck! Kim |
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- Posted by kathy9norcal CA 9 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 19:34
| Will do, Kim. It is remarkable how tough roses really are. Once you have been growing them for a while, you realize that. Of course, I live in a mild climate with a very long growing season--that surely helps. |
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- Posted by jacqueline3 9CA (My Page) on Sat, Mar 29, 14 at 10:07
| When we had our 3 story house painted we cut down all of the roses which were climbing on it (6 - 3 of which were huge monsters) to about 6-7 feet high. Then we wrapped them in burlap to protect them. The scaffolding was up for 5 weeks. By the end of the 5 weeks most of the roses had put out growth THROUGH the burlap! WIthin 1-2 years the roses were all as big as they had been before, and some of them looked better. So, when you or whoever get ready to stain your fence, you could wrap your roses in burlap - they should do fine that way for 2 months. Just a thought - Jackie |
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- Posted by kathy9norcal CA 9 (My Page) on Sat, Mar 29, 14 at 19:39
| Great idea, Jackie. They would only need to be wrapped for a few hours! I will try that. It is better than a second pruning, I think. |
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