Roses - end of season pruning

 Here's a good example of why people pay for professional gardeners: I was recently asked the following question regarding the pruning of roses:

"I was told when flowering was over, to cut them back by 50 % and then in March down to knee height.
What do you think?"

It's the usual "non-gardener has read it in a book and not fully understood" problem - or should I say, it's the usual "gardening book/website has not explained it clearly, plus this is a simplification, and there's a bit more to it than that!"

First point, this does not to apply to all roses: it applies to shrub roses: not to climbers, ramblers, gallica-type, fan-trained, wall-trained, standards, etc.  I've covered climbing roses in another article, so take a look at that one, if you get the time.

So today, ("children,") we are talking about just the stand-alone, bush type, often to be found in a bed or border, like this lot - left. 

Yes, I know, fruit salad: personally I would prefer a little bit more organisation in a rose bed, with colours grouped to either tone, or to contrast, but hey, the owner likes it!

Moving on....

This sort of rose is often labelled Hybrid Tea Rose, Shrub Rose, Bush Rose: anything which stands about waist-high. 

The following advice does also apply to Patio Roses, I should say: Patio Roses are miniature versions of Shrub Roses: you just need a much gentler hand! And a smaller pair of secateurs...

So, what do we do with our Shrub roses, then, and why?

In autumn, ie "when flowering is over" (although in my experience roses will continue to flower into November) we give the roses their pre-winter prune, to reduce the top growth, which is to prevent wind rock, ie damaging the roots over the winter.  Yes, that's the real reason. Shrub roses are very top-heavy, with usually just one central stem, and it is very easy for them to be rocked about over the winter, which damages the roots, and which also creates a vertical hole around the main stem, so water will tend to pool down there, and rot the roots. 

That's why we do an autumn prune - to prevent damage from wind rock.

This does not have to be a fixed percentage, it depends on how exposed the garden is, how old the roses are (ie older ones will be more sturdy, recently planted ones will not be fully rooted, so they will need harder pruning, and so on), how well dead-headed they were throughout the summer, how lanky they have grown during the summer, and so on.

As I tell students (repeatedly!) there are no hard-and-fast rules in gardening, it's all about the interpretation. This might seem daunting to a beginner, but it also means that there is no Right or Wrong: and I have yet to see anyone kill a rose by pruning it "badly". So be brave! Get out those secateurs, make sure they are sharp (if they are blunt and rusty, throw them away and buy a new pair), and prune those roses. 

I've just said "there is no right or wrong way" and I stand by that statement, but at the same time, there are a couple of points about pruning roses which are important: and that's the Sloping Cut, the Outward Facing Bud, and the Open Goblet Shape, which I'm sure I've covered in earlier articles. 

So, incorporating those principles, in autumn we reduce the top growth of our Shrub roses.

Then in spring, before growth fully starts, we go over them and remove any dead, diseased and damaged material. Often the winds, rain, and snow of winter cause damage: and sometimes branches just die back after being pruned, so the first job it to get that lot out of the way.

At that point we can also re-shape them if necessary: firstly, because we may have removed some of their limbs due to the three Ds, and secondly, because it might now be easier to see - now that the stems are bare - if the rose structure is becoming unbalanced.

We might also decide to remove one of the older stems, if we thought it appropriate. This can also be done in autumn, but personally I leave major thinning until spring, because you never know what damage will occur over the winter, and it always seem a bit daft to do major pruning, without knowing which branches are going to survive the winter.

Also, if you do this work in spring, the rose will immediately start to re-grow, so you can see results more quickly. I always find it reassuring, to see those dear little new buds appearing, after I've given a rose a stern going-over with the secateurs.

Having said that, I have known years when the spring pruning wasn't necessary at all, having done it all thoroughly the previous autumn: but usually, there is at least a little neatening-up to be done.

The other point I would make about that original statement is that it implies that no pruning was done at all, while the rose was flowering. ("when flowering was over, to cut them back...")

This is quite wrong - oh, although yes, there is no Right or Wrong in gardening, ha! ha! -  because "one" should deadhead roses all through the flowering season, on a flower-by-flower basis, repeatedly.  And dead-heading is part of pruning, a part that should be done on an ongoing basis. More of that in another article...

If deadheading has been done as "hard" as it should have been done, then there won't be any need to cut back by 50% in autumn: you would only need to cut off the last of the flowered stems, with an eye to retaining the framework of older wood.

But, in the real world, people often don't deadhead as hard as they - in my opinion!! - should, so there will still be some work to be done in autumn.

So there you have it: deadhead throughout the summer, do a final deadhead/cut back in autumn to reduce the risk of damage over the winter, then go over them again in spring, cleaning out any dead wood, tidying up the shape, and generally getting them ready for the summer.

And they should be lovely!

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