Skinny, leafless canes

[Fuzicat4]

I have a number of floribunda roses in front of my home. Many, like Icicle and Judy Garland, have a huge number of long, very skinny, leafless canes with blossoms on the end. When the blossoms go, how do I prune these canes to help the bush get bigger canes. Sometimes there are so many blossoms on these canes that the cane can't even support them and they end up lying on the ground.

Also, I have the same problem with one of my tea roses. It's just early summer here, so should I just prune the bush way back to thick, healthy canes and wait for it to come back? You know, prune it so it looks like the ones that just come from the nursery?

[The Helpful Gardener]

You could, but it sounds likes there may be light issues here, or possibly too much water. Either way I would just prune the flowers off of those light canes and let them develop, or prune them right off (if it makes sense to the shrub)...

Scott

[Guest]

Hi Fuzicat,
I think there are a couple of things going on here. For one, you will have more roses on each cane if the canes are grown horizontally. So, if you just have them growing straight up, you will get roses at the tip of the canes. Maybe you could allow the shrub to sprawl by giving it more room and allowing the canes to be more horizontal.

The other situation that I'd like to address is that the canes don't have any leaves on them. That is usually a sign of stress from lack of water or insect damage. I think if it were insect damage, you would have more canes without leaves.

Newt

[Newt]

You might also find this site helpful too.

https://nmnm.essortment.com/floribundarose_rmjs.htm

Newt

[The Helpful Gardener]

Thanks for all the help...

[Newt]

You're very welcome!

Newt