tall hybrid T roses
Louise Tammadge
Posts: 1
can anyone advise me how to prevent my hybrid T roses from flowering at 6' tall?- I have a mixed rose bed and prune all the same in autumn and spring, but every year 2 varieties insist on growing and flowering to 6' no matter how hard I prune. I think one is Josephine Bruce. They stick out so much in the bed and obscure the view beyond. Is there anything else I can do?-I am loathe to repeatedly cut down as I fear I will lose flowers.
0
Posts
Some varieties will do that when pruned 'normally'. "Peace" is one and if pruned hard in March grows rampantly, so I have to remember to only lightly prune that one. Once done though, it's hard to regain control. I had some luck by continually pruning it from midsummer onwards through the 'rampant' year and then just gave a light trim in the following March. This did result in losing a lot of flowers for one year, just something I had to accept.
The problem with mixed rose beds is the lack of uniformity in growth patterns. Unless you buy varieties that are meant to grow to the same height, this sort of thing is always going cause a headache. You could remove the giant specimens and replace them with something a little more in keeping with their neighbours. You will need to be aware of the advice in the following link. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=572
With a bit of luck you can pot up the two annoyingly tall specimens and grow them in large pots that can be moved to wherever you need beautiful smelling blooms. I have a fairly tall rose that has lived in a pot for years and it is flowering madly at the moment. It just needs a right amount of food to keep it happy.