Jobs for Autumn - Prune Roses

Garden Studio old hands have been asking me to remind them what to do in the garden now, so it's time for a few posts about what has been going on here: firstly Pruning Climbing and Rambling roses.

Climbers and ramblers can put on several feet in a season.  The aim of pruning is to cut out dead diseased and damaged shoots, and to bring the vigorous shoots as near as possible to horizontal. This will allow new flowering shoots to grow at all levels of the plant, so you get lots of visible flowers rather than just a few waving about at the top.


So, cut out the ddd (dead diseased and damaged) choose the best new vigorous shoots and tie them in sideways, using a figure of eight with string or soft tie (and never just shoving them behind a wire and hoping for more time next week...)  

When you have a lovely fan shape against a wall, or up a pergola, you can then prune all shoots off these main stems back to two or three buds to encourage flowers.

It's safest to put cuttings on the bonfire to prevent spread of blackspot etc. As you have removed biomass don't forget to replace it and feed with a nice mulch of well rotted manure or garden compost..

Any questions, email me!