Poor Rose
lmyk
Posts: 4
Hi all, I'm new to gardening and I have neglected this rose since moving into my house 12 months ago. Can anyone give any advice on how to take better care of her now?
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lmyk
Posts: 4
lmyk
Posts: 4
lmyk
Posts: 4
Posts
The time to prune your rose us in spring - it looks like a hybrid tea. Does it have a scent? If it has a citrussy lemon scent, it may be a David Austen "Prince" rose, which has a similar habit and colour.
For now, cut back to an outward-facing leaf joint when deadheading, and have a look at the bunch of low shoots at the bottom. If there are any suckers there remove those; you will recognise them by the fact that they come from below the graft (the graft is an extra-thick lump just above the soil where you'll find most shoots originate - if you can't see it, it may have been buried, so ease the soil away carefully to trace a potential sucker). Suckers may also have more leaflets than the main rose, and the leaflets are often a paler colour. Other than that, take out any very thin spindly shoots low down, but leave the majority until spring.
This will tell you how to prune in spring:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=176
look for hybrid tea/floribunda roses. You'll also need to clear a circle about 80cm minimum across around the rose's roots of grass.
Last edited: 24 July 2016 14:19:07
Thank you!!
its scent is classic rose, nothing at all citrusy. What do you mean by an outward facing leaf joint?
Imyk you can make a start in tidying it up now. There's quite a bit of dead wood there which needs pruning out. That'll create space and allow air into the base. Then you can actually see what you're doing in spring. An outward facing leaf joint is a leaf facing away from the centre of the rose.