Confused newbie here

[Elizabeth77]

Hello. I'm Elizabeth. We recently bought a house and moved in last month. This is our first house, so gardening in general is really new to me, although I know some things from growing up watching my mom. There are two rose bushes (more like rose trees since they are taller than me! lol) in our front yard. My mom never had roses, so I am completely clueless! I've been trying to do some research.

So, what I'm confused about: the previous owner said she would prune in the fall and get beautiful blooms in the spring. So, I'm like, ok, getting all prepared, trying to do some research about HOW to prune them correctly. Then, I come here and start reading posts and learn that I shouldn't prune until end of winter. It doesn't matter to me when I prune, just trying to figure out what is right now so I care for them correctly. Is pruning in fall ok since pruning in the fall didn't kill the bushes for the previous owner. Is it ok, just not recommended? Or was the previous owner doing the wrong thing? Plus, even after trying to read about how to prune so I know how when the time comes, I find it very confusing and overwhelming. Does anyone know of a good simple stepped site for novices? Most diagrams I see for pruning have a pic of a bush with lots of branches coming out of the ground to form the bush. Mine just have one "trunk" with lots of branches coming off that. It's one big twiggy mess to me. Is it supposed to be like that or not, or do I have some other variety? The blooms are red on both bushes, but they look slightly different from each other. Other rose bushes around the neighborhood, or that we drive by in the area have lots of leaves and blooms and looks full - even on the bottom of the bush. Mine look like a big stick in the ground with blooms and leaves that try to grow in the middle and top. The bottom is very plain and "ugly" looking. Even the middle and top look pathetic because the Japanese beetles keep eating them. We finally got some Sevin to spray on them, and so far I have a single bloom now that looks like it's not getting touched by them for once! I'm excited because it should be eaten up by now! I used to cut off any blooms I found before the beetles did just so I could enjoy their beauty longer than had I left them on the bush to be eaten. But I think I'll leave this one on and see how long the beetles stay away from it with the Sevin. Which brings me to another question. Is there something better to use for the beetles than Sevin? It seems to be working so far, and I know the beetle season will be over soon anyway, but just wanting ideas for next year. . . .Oh, I put out some traps too. Doesn't help as much except there aren't AS many on the bush, but they still get eaten w/o the Sevin.

Sorry for the book here. I'd appreciate any input on my questions. Thanks!

[JPIXI]

Hello Elizabeth77,

As I am not sure what you have there is tige or overgrown hybrid tea, therefore I cannot be specific on how you are going to prune your roses.

Normally, you can start prunning mildly on weak and dead sterms from fall onwards. Prunning lightly in fall will reduce the demages from the strong wind and cold winter later. Do not deep prune in fall as you can always do so in spring when you will need to do another "house cleaning".

You will be able to find a lot of examples in the net on how you are going to prune different types of roses. The basic rule is simple. You need to prune your roses to promote air circulation. The sterms should look like open arms towards the sky.

Make sure the tool you sure to prune is clean and steriled after each cut. You can use household vinegar.

Lastly, remember never fertilze your roses later then August.

Cheers,
Pixi

[Elizabeth77]

Thank-you, Pixi! You were really helpful. I'll prune the dead stuff this fall then, and the rest later. I asked the previous owner, and she said that one is a climber and one is a bush. The bush has blooms bigger than the climber's blooms. That's about all I know about them.

[JPIXI]

Hello Elizabeth77,

You are most welcome to drop by for any problem in future, we are here to share and help each other.

If there are a lot o blind shoot (weak and thin shoot with only leaf and obviously no flower) you can prune back by 5 leaf space to save the rose energy for other protential growth. Otherwise, you can prune a little in fall and other prune in Spring if you think another prune will be better to shape the rose.

However, let me tell you a lot of climber rose gives flowers on old wood, therefore when you see mature, hard sterm, think twice before cutting them off as you might be cutting all next season flowers.

Lastly, it is always good to cover the top soil to promote good micros and to keep moisture for the roses.

Enjoy gardening my friend.
Pixi

[decam0]

Hi there Elizabeth

Here's what looks like a good website that may help....

https://www.rosebuddies.com/pruning.html

[webmaster]

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