Rosa Hazel Le Rougetel pruning

francesskjonnemand

I planted 12 Rosa Hazel Le Rougetel in October 2019 as per instructions. In 2020 the stems grew 2 to 3 m long and had very few flowers. In October 2020 I cut all stems down to about 30 cm. I need to know about spring pruning so that I get flowers this summer.

rachelQrtJHBjb

Peter Beales sell this particular rose. Here's the link to the advice page for pruning all types of roses, including yours, which is a rugosa x nitida 
https://www.classicroses.co.uk/blog/post/pruning-and-dead-heading-roses

I grow Rosa rugosa and cut mine back to around 1.5ft in spring because I want it to flower at a particular height in the border. Mine came as a bare root plant from a friend but it did flower from the first summer so I'm sorry I cannot offer advice as to why yours didn't.

Nollie

I don’t know your specific rose, but think the answer is, there is nothing left to prune in Spring, as you have already done a severe prune (too severe perhaps?) last year, so your roses now need time to grow and establish without too much pruning. Species roses, including rugosas and hybrids, according to a book I have by Peter Beales, should be left to their own devices until properly established - so a few years after planting - and only lightly pruned to keep in shape and within the bounds of the eventual height you want them to grow. The usual advice is to prune after flowering at the end of summer, but as @rachelQrtJHBjb did hers in Spring to no ill effect, perhaps timing is not so important. Some do flower on a combination of new and old growth from the year before though and yours might be one of them, so again, go lightly until you know it’s habits. Any dead or diseased canes can be removed right down to the ground.

Once fully established, if they are getting out of control, its fine to be more radical as this paragraph lifted from a US guide to pruning the various old and species roses says:

‘RUGOSAS: The suckering Rugosas require little pruning, other than removal of dead wood. They sometimes seem to resent being cut back, just as they resent spraying, and may respond with dieback. But established Rugosas that have gotten out of hand will recover well from an occasional creative encounter with a chainsaw’.

Hope that helps.

francesskjonnemand

Thank you! I was probably too keen last year......brand new garden ! I’ll look at the suggested links.

Posy

Rugosa grow like weeds in my garden. I used to fiddle about snipping off bits but now I just cut the whole lot down in winter to about 6 inches. They flower and fruit from spring to hard frosts.

erik_de_vries

Hi Frances,
When a rose that is supposed to get as large as 1.20 m is getting 2 to 3 meters, than the problem most likely is not pruning, but rather fertilizing and shadey conditions... Might you have given it high nitrogen fertilizer combined with a place in the shade? 
I will plant this rose as well this year, so we might exchange more experiences later on

erik_de_vries

... and pruning can be done as low as 10 cm, one can even mow rugosa types

francesskjonnemand

Thanks for your suggestions....yes the roses are in dappled shade but I haven’t applied fertiliser. Just blood ,fish and bone when planted.

Nollie

Stated heights are often just a guide, it does depend on your conditions - I can’t get Rugosas to grow at all, they don’t seem to like my clay soil and warm climate, but other roses grow huge and throw out long octopus canes to twice that of stated height. From some comments I just read on another forum, your one does sound as it it suckers madly and is extremely vigorous so needs plenty of space. Still think you need to let your new plants establish first tho and see how they go before attacking them with a chainsaw/mower, but up to you 😊