Roses

wildlifewonder

Have had a disappointing year in the garden so far, first an invasion of moles, now persuaded to move on, but more importantly and far more damaging was a surface water pollution incident which has very badly impacted on my plants.  I have a very large rose garden, which has taken the brunt of the damage and my plants are now looking very poorly.  I was wondering if it would be ok to cut them right back now, so as to give them a chance to recover, or would this do more damage at this time of year?  Any advice would be appreciated.  

fidgetbones

Cutting them back hard now will lead to lots of soft growth which will be damaged in a hard winter.   I would be inclined to give them a feed and a mulch, and then cut back by half in September and then properly hard prune in March.

Rubytoo

It might also help if you could say what the surface pollution was?

Are they loosing all leaves, or do they have dying or withering stems or branches?

I do not meant to disagree with fidget, but it might be that a partial cut back now would help, with less for the plant to support.

But more information and description or photos of the problems would help with more answers..

Sorry you have had some set backs it can get disheartening, but hope they will bounce back. Good Luck.