Rose pruning

LynfromSea

I keep reading conflicting advice about rose pruning so I’m now hoping I haven’t done the wrong thing. In my courtyard garden I have a beautiful Prunus (The Bride) It’s grafted so won’t get too big. Underneath I planted 5 Roses (Desdemona) where I’ve had a fabulous display for a good couple of years but last year they grew too tall. So now I’ve pruned them right down to the ground as I read that roses will tolerate that but then I read to only take a third to a half cut. Which is right?

Marlorena

I have that rose and I reduce by half, but with this type of rose there is no right or wrong, it's just preference.  What you've done won't hurt, you'll just have a shorter plant by midsummer.   Sometimes they need a good cutting down anyway, it rejuvenates them and produces some good basals. 

It will soon grow back !.. 

bédé

It's a while since I was last in Aberdeen.  The last time I went, the council had an economical and effective way of pruning the large numbers of bush roses in their many central reservations.  They went through them in the winter with a chain saw, about 30cm from the ground.  The results were every bit as good as following complicated rules.

Often a hard prune will lead to fewer taller shoots.  A less vigorous prune will lead to more shoots, but shorter.  Approximately the same weight of regrowth.

But on a general point:  advice is always conflicting, at some stage you have to make decisions and build your own knowledge base.

LynfromSea

Thank you for that. It was very reassuring. I didn’t want the taller shoots running through the tree so hopefully I’ll get more of a spread than height.

LynfromSea

Marlorena said:

I have that rose and I reduce by half, but with this type of rose there is no right or wrong, it's just preference.  What you've done won't hurt, you'll just have a shorter plant by midsummer.   Sometimes they need a good cutting down anyway, it rejuvenates them and produces some good basals. 

It will soon grow back !.. 

Thank you so much for your
encouragement. I don’t think I cut it back hard enough last year as some of the beaches grew too tall. It’s a fantastic rose though isn’t it? It bloomed all summer and well into the autumn too.