Rose Pruning by Example: Third and Final

Well, I say "final" but I am sure there will be more on the subject, in due course!

On Thursday we looked at a Rose in a pot:  yesterday we looked at a shrub rose against a fence, which was getting a bit wayward: today we are looking at the final part of Neil's three-stage Rose pruning question, and this is a good one: 

It's a well-established climbing Rose, on trellis against the house.

Neil says it flowers well the first time, but the second flush is weaker: there is a lot of growth at the top: and he's not at all sure how to prune it.

First things first, comments: looking at ground level - when you first plant a climbing rose up trellis, don't EVER tuck it behind the trellis.

Everyone does this! 

It's wrong, in so many ways.. as the plant grows and thickens, the stems will damage themselves against the trellis, and the trellis will be distorted and eventually pushed off the wall.

Talking of trellis, here's a very short article on How To Fix Trellis To A Wall - The Correct Way. 

It's too late for this one, but you can see that, eventually, those lower stems are going to break the trellis. But, sufficient until the day is the evil thereof, as they say, so we won't worry too much about it now, other than to comment that, over time, very old branches will need to be replaced, and when the time comes, allow the new replacement shoots to be tied to the outside of the trellis, not tucked behind it! End of lecture...

Right, three parts to this job.

1) Lower trellis

I am very pleased indeed to see that lower branch being taken horizontally along the trellis under the window: excellent work! 

A closer look shows two or three stems going along, and one which is meandering at an indeterminate angle.

If I were there, I'd take the indeterminate one and lower it down to the horizontal, tying it to the trellis under the window, along with the other ones. 

As per yesterday's article, I'd aim to keep the "main" stem of each  branch, and clip off all side growth to just two or three buds.

Yellow indicates pruning points, the red arrows and dotted lines give an indication as to where I would place the pruned shoots, tying each one along that trellis.

You will note that there are more or less three stems, and I am suggesting spreading them out so that each stem runs along one pane of the trellis. It is always best to avoid the stems crossing each other, if you can possibly manage it. It avoids them damaging each other by rubbing, and it makes it easier to prune, in subsequent years.

This should result in a flush of flowers at exactly the right height to see from inside, but won't leave any annoying branches obstructing the window, and tapping and scraping against the glass on windy days.

2) Upper trellis

It seems a shame to waste it, as someone has taken the trouble to attach it to the wall, so I'd get up a ladder and find the strongest shoot at height, which could be taken over to the right.

Sometimes you can find a suitable candidate on the correct side of the plant: sometimes there might be a good shoot going off the "wrong" way, which can be either gently bent over and tied in, or can be "flopped" or "flipped", to get it going the way you want it.

It's almost impossible to do this from photos, but to give you an idea... this forward-springing branch looks good and strong, and it's still green, so there's a good chance that it's still flexible enough to be bent over to the right. 

If you can't find one that you like, there might well be a good strong shoot lower down, which can be tied in to the main upright trellis until it reaches the right height, then bent over to the right. 

Having selected the new "main" shoot, tie it as far along the upper horizontal trellis as it will reach, and again, prune off all the small, spindly side-growth, leaving just 2-3 buds on each pruned shoot. I know it won't look much, but it will soon grow. In future years, you will do the same for this main branch as for the lower trellis, ie at the end of the year, shorten all side shoots, leaving just the main stem,  letting it grow longer until it reaches the end of the trellis, at which point you cut off the tip, every year.

3) The Rest Of It...

Urgh, now we get to the horrible bit.

Again, up the ladder we go, and now we need - I say "we" but I mean you, Neil - to isolate all the strongest, oldest branches which are either tied to, or tucked behind (heinous crime, but you've already heard me on that topic!), the trellis, and prune off all their side growths, all the spindly bits, down to the 2-3 buds point again: but in addition, prune off all the stems which are rubbing against each other, or which have been badly contorted by, or damaged by, the trellis.

Aim to get rid of the clutter, and leave just the older stems, each with a lot of short stubby pruned side-branches.

Now turn to the stems which are currently leaning out, away from the house.

Can any of them be gainfully tied in to the trellis? Are any of them nice enough to take the place of one of the oldest, most gnarled, tucked-behind-the-trellis stems? If so, cut out the old stem, and tie the replacement (having pruned off the side shoots to 2-3 buds etc etc) to the outside of the trellis in place of that old one. 

Aim to spread out the stems across the trellis, if possible, and in a perfect world, you would have maybe four or five main stems rising up that main trellis, not crossing or touching each other, and each tied to the outside of the trellis, not tucked underneath it. It might take a couple of yearly prunings to reach that point.... but it's good to have some ambitions! (*laughs*)

As for the rest of the leaning-outwards stems... off with their heads! Off with their entire bodies, to be honest: cut them right back to the point where they leave the trellis.

Again, yellow indicates the pruning points, bearing in mind that some of those stems might already have been removed or relocated.

But you get the idea.

As per the other two articles, having done all this pruning, give the rose some feed, and a good watering, and pretty soon it should be covered in buds.

You'll note the order in which I tackled this job: first we did the lowest section, the horizontal trellis under the window.

Then we looked at the upper parts, dealing with the "immovable" branches which were tucked behind the trellis.

Then we looked for a "moveable" one to take across the upper horizontal section.

This is so that we don't, for example, cut off a lower branch that we subsequently need to tie in higher up, to replace a damaged one, or to - in this case - take over to the right.

The exception to this work plan is if the rose is very bulky, and spiny, and you can't get the ladder close enough to the main stems without being scratched to death... in which case you might have to start at the base and work your way up.

4) Ongoing Maintenance

I'll add this comment in for free: having done this work, you have now got a "feel" for being brave, and cutting stems right back, very close to where they left the framework of old wood.

So, through the summer, when the rose starts to flower, go over it once every week or fortnight or so, and dead-head it: but don't just nip off the dead flowers.

Instead, take the shoot with the (dying) flower on it, trace it back to where it left the main branch, and prune it there, leaving one or two buds (or a couple of inches/4-5cm if you can't see any obvious buds), just as we did for this winter pruning.

If it's the sort of rose that produces multi-stemmed flowering heads, then nip off each individual bloom as it dies, if you can - in the real world, it's not always possible to find the time to do this, nor to reach them - then once pretty much all the flowers from an individual flower-head have gone over, prune that whole stem back to the main branch.

Most people don't realise that routine  dead-heading, like winter pruning, should be done as though the rose belonged to your worst enemy. Chop it off! Hah, that'll show them! It is almost impossible to kill roses by pruning them, and dead-heading hard - as opposed to just nipping off the flower head - will encourage new growth and more flowers. 

This might help Neil's rose with it's "weak" second flush of flowers: if it's cut back good and hard after the first flush, the second flush may well be a lot stronger, especially if it gets another feed at that point, and possibly some extra watering, as it is rather in the rain-shadow of the house.

So there you have it, three descriptions of pruning three very different roses, with thanks to Neil for asking the question, and supplying good photos!

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