Rose pruning

jamesharcourt

I’m not sure what type of rose this is, but it produces a massive profusion of pink blooms every year… It seems to have a big flush but then there are some afterwards as well… 

It was here when we moved in. I don’t know if it’s a rambler, a climber or what really … I’m not really well up on roses.  I think I asked on here before but I had some new pictures in case anybody had any ideas.

I shortened some of the stems over the winter. Can anybody tell from the pictures whether this was the right thing to do or whether I can shorten things even more now?  or further ideas on an ID?

Thanks!

Borderline

I'm afraid the pictures of the branches are a bit too close. So hard to work out the rest of the branches and shape. Might be best if you have it, to post photos of the rose in the summer time, that way, others may recognise it. I'm assuming it's the pale pink ones in the last photo, doesn't look like a climber, but could be wrong. 

At this time of year, I think, if you are not sure, let it grow, considering you had already given it a prune earlier in the year. 

jamesharcourt

OK thanks @Borderline I'm going to leave it I think as you suggest ...

jamesharcourt

@Borderline Here are some better pictures showing the young leaves just starting to appear… 

Borderline

Thanks for some more photos. How tall is it now? I'm asking so it gives an idea of the size of your rose right now.

If it were my rose, I would leave it and wait to see how it grows for the rest of this year. Once you have it flowering, you should post another photo of it with more close ups of the flower and one showing the habit. There are many rose experts on this forum who may be able to recognise it.

Without knowing, it's always better to wait and see how it grows. Some roses flower one main flush in the summer and those benefit from pruning in late summer, so hard to recommend a regime until we know what rose it is.

jamesharcourt

@Borderline I dig out my post from June 2019 about this and had forgotten that somebody ID’d it as “Bonica” ...

https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1030226/unidentified-roses#latest

Borderline

Thanks for finding out. Bonica is a good strong rose that has a slightly lax habit that tends to arch and spread outwards rather than grow upright. If you want to, you can just prune it back a bit now, but if not, it means you will have it growing taller and possibly flopping as it grows later in the year.

Depending where you are, you can shorten the shrub over the winter months to avoid wind rock over the winter and come mid February to March time, prune the branches back to around a foot from the soil. Prune out dead looking branches first and shorten the branches in general. Prune to just above a bud and try to prune off branches that grow inwards towards to the middle of the shrub. The rose will send out plenty of strong fresh stems. 

jamesharcourt

Thanks @Borderline, I inherited a nice garden when we moved here 10 years ago and only really got to know the plants since then.  This rose has been particularly nice all this time - a real profusion on blooms every year ... i'm not much of a rose expert but I'm slowly learning.  I think we have a few rambling roses here - and last year I planted two climbing roses from David Austin called "Strawberry Hill".