pruning

A simple month by month guide which can be used as a handy reference tool throughout the year to ensure that your roses will always look their best. JANUARY By the end of the month you should aim to have completed your annual staggered pruning of established Climbers and Ramblers that flower on current seasons wood (Group One). For a guide on how to prune these roses please click here.January is also a good time to plan your summer garden, so ensure you have the most up-to-date catalogues to help inspire you. FEBRUARY Pruning, pruning and more pruning! All established bush and repeat flowering shrubs should receive their annual prune this month. As a general rule bush roses should be reduced down to approximately 5 to 7 buds from the base of the plant and shrub roses should be thinned out, reducing younger stems by a third and older stems cut

Normally by now the Roses would have returned from the RHS Chelsea flower show and if they hadn’t already had the Chelsea Chop, then they would be trimmed over the next few weeks. “What is the Chelsea Chop?” I hear you all ask. When we break our stand down at the end of the Chelsea Flower Show most of the shrubs and some climbers will be cut down very heavily for ease of transporting them home. Although the big flower shows have been cancelled this year, I have still been doing something similar to invigorate the plants into new growth. This helps to form bushier and hopefully more compact shrub plants. While we aim for more manageable shrubs, this hard prune should also encourage climbers and ramblers into producing lots of long straight stems. Some of the ramblers have already put on nearly 7 ft of new growth!   

Pruning Shrubs & Climbers When first faced with the task of pruning Shrubs and Climbers it can seem like quite a daunting and confusing task, but once you start to understand the growing characteristics of the different Shrubs you have growing within your gardens, it should become easier over time to understand how each one needs to be pruned and the reasons why. Some might simply need a light prune to remove spent flowers if necessary or to shape the plant, whereas others may need regular hard pruning to encourage new vigorous growth to keep the plant healthy. The timing for pruning also varies and depends on flowering time, variety and placement. To make it easier to gain an understanding of what Shrubs and Climbers require pruning and also when and how they should be pruned, they are divided into 13 different pruning groups. These 13 pruning groups are detailed below:   Group One

After Purchase Keep compost moist.Harden off any soft growth occurring in early spring.   Planting Make sure the rootball is thoroughly moist before planting.Keep approximately 12”(30cm) away from walls and fences; 2-3ft (60 – 90cm) from shrubs or trees.Dig a hole large enough for the rootball and manure, and deep enough to cover stem bases.Add well-rotted manure or garden compost plus a good handfull of bonemeal into the hole. Mix well with the soil at the base of the hole. If dry, fill the hole with water and allow to drain. MIX ALL RAW  INGREDIENTS WITH SOIL.Loosen roots if necessary and plant in hole so lowest leaf joint(s) will be buried.Backfill hole and gently firm taking care not to damage stem bases. Carefully remove ties and cane and tie stems to support.Water well, then regularly, as necessary throughout the growing season, particularly during periods of dry weather.Clematis benefit from a mulch of well-rotted

Pruning your Roses Pruning worries many gardeners but if you keep the rules simple it is quite a logical procedure. In all pruning, dead and diseased wood should always be removed. If taking away an entire branch, try to leave as little of it behind as possible to avoid dead stumpy areas on the plant. All other cuts should be made above an outward-facing bud and on an angle away from it, thus preventing rain-water from sitting there. Remove wood, which has rubbed against other branches, and become damaged. Try to keep the centre of the plant open. Always use good quality, sharp secateurs to ensure that cuts are clean. If you would like to learn more about pruning and planting your roses, then why not come along to one our informative Pruning and Planting Workshops  

Training climbing and rambling roses Roses do not cling to the wall themselves like some plants do. Therefore they will require tying in. On a wall it is a good idea to put up trellis or wires for this purpose. As the rose grows it should be encouraged to grow horizontally outward and upward. The lower stems straight out where possible and the taller ones, up and then outward. In this way new growth will be encouraged, as will more flowers. On a pillar it is best, where possible to train the branches around it for the same reason as above. Ramblers for trees will need to be tied to the trunk to begin with until the branches meet those of the tree, thereafter, the tree will act as a natural support.

It’s a hard life being a pampered show plant with no show to go to. It’s been a challenging couple of weeks, with things changing almost daily. Things started off very relaxed as most of the roses were coming back into growth evenly and in good shape. Many were also showing very early signs of bud initiation. This can vary and some years plants will come back into growth very unevenly and may have a large percentage of blind shoots that start to grow. Blind shoots are stems that produce no flowering buds, but instead end in a leaf. This is usually due to harsh winter weather, or the age of the plant. Normally a light pruning will kick start the plant back into growth and isn’t an issue for our show roses, provided we get our timings right! Well, it was

When growing show plants, hygiene and air movement are vitally important. Even at this time of year. So, before the roses are housed, all glasshouses and equipment are fully cleaned. There are also some roses that never fully drop all their leaves and leaf stalks during the winter. As well as the odd hip and old flower stem which may still be left after the winter pruning. These are all places where pests and diseases could overwinter. Therefore, since starting to house the roses, we have been checking each plant to remove any old leaves, hips and unwanted wood. Good air movement is also very important, as damp stagnant air is the quickest way for fungal attacks to start. Watering is kept to mornings, often using watering cans for spot watering rather than hoses, so less water

Whether you are completely new to roses or have been growing them for years, pruning them can seem like a bit of a daunting task, but it needn’t be. The first thing I would really like to stress is that no matter how bad a job you make of pruning your roses, you are not going to kill them! As the old gardener’s saying ‘Get your worst enemy to prune your roses’ suggests, roses are tough and can take a lot more abuse than people give them credit for. Just think about how badly butchered hedgerows look along the roadside after the farmer has hacked them back. It’s easy to look at them, resembling nothing more than bare broken and splintered sticks and wonder how these poor roses and hawthorns will ever survive, but they do. A trial was conducted several years ago at the Gardens of the Rose, St Albans, where some of their roses