I pruned it to about 6 inches overall last fall. This spring it looks better than it ever has, with cleaner foliage and more buds. I'm inclined to think that this rose needs a pretty hard pruning. It is about 2 feet tall now and was perhaps 2 1/2 feet before pruning.

I'm curious - what do you do to your Indigo, pruning wise?

I'd like to collect all of them, but what I do have now are

Rose de Rescht - very well behaved and blooms a lot. It seems to like to be fed and watered a lot
Marie de St. jean - blooms a lot and doesn't act like Indigo, but it's just 3 now
Portland from Glendora - I only shape it
Rose de Rescht - I only shape it
Marchesa Boccella - I deadhead this one pretty severely, so it stays in bounds

After a few more years, maybe they all will need a hard pruning, I don't know.

I grow a number of Portlands and have found most do quite well when pruned back by 1/3. I prune Indigo by up to 1/2. She is a sprawlier than Comte de Chambord or Rose de Rescht, for example, but she bulks up a bit over time, and whacking her by half each spring has shaped her up.

Yes, own root Indigos spread by throwing stolons around the mother ship. Indigo is a more enthusiastic spreader than Rose de Rescht but not quite as determined as some of the bulliest gallicas.

Carol

I've learned to cut gallicas back but haven't really puned any of the Portlands except Marchesa Boccella which I cut back constantly.

Indigo has sat and waved a few puny canes around for three years, putting out ratty foliage and an occasional bloom. If I were to do this again, I would prune Indigo from the very beginning.

I'll have to watch Rose de Rescht and ordered Beales' book, "Classic Roses." It's one I don't have- I guess that's what you are both referring to?

Thanks for the information; I appreciate it.

Rose de Rescht here is on a bank so drains too well.

I water it and feed it more than most because of the draining problem it has. It gets manure and mulch in the early spring, a synthetic rose food sold by a local rose group and an occasional gallon of dilute Miracle Grow through the summer. It's more than it needs, probably, but I do that because it drains so fast there and I think everything is washing out.

It doesn't have the same kind of thin canes that Indigo has but I think I might prune it back this winter to see how it affects it.

Thanks again!

Generally what I have working best on HP's and Portlands is to let them grow big strong canes for two or three years and keeping spindly canes removed then cutting some of the longest canes back by up to a half.

I am excited for you to move to Manchester and have more room for a garden. You and the missus will have to come up here and visit after you get moved.

Alas and alack, Lance, I waited a full three years to see some strong canes emerge out of Indigo, but all it produced were canes that got punier each year. I think your advice is good, though with a lot of the hp's and Portlands.

I am learning, though, that there are a lot of roses that respond really well to a hard prune. Indigo may be one of them for me; we'll see what happens to it in the next couple of years as I try different things with it.

I'll be curious to see how yours does next year after you hard prune it to move it. Best wishes for your new garden!

Sometime when you have time on one of your "weekends" come by to visit. Your advice helped me a lot when I first moved up here, so I would love to show you my garden. And I still homeschool my youngest so we are home a lot. :) Gean

Gean, I didn't prune my own root Indigo much for the first three years. She has been a quick grower for me, so after the first three years, I pruned as needed. I am currently digging up a pile of Indigo canes that I allowed to develop around the main plant. She's great for pass along. I've found her easy to root from offshoots. As I recall, you and I are both fond of mauve purples. In time, I think you'll adore Indigo. She has become a fav of mine. Decent rebloom with maturity.

Carol