Everything's Coming Up Crocus, Down Roses

[akirlu]

Get this. I just had to pause from pruning the roses because I needed to strip off a few layers. It's too warm.

I reckon it's a good thing I decided to punt on the all-day Adobe Suite workshop. Because, for a wonder, the sun has come out. On a week-end. When I'm not at death's door. And it isn't freezing either.

The yard has been muttering imprecations at me for weeks now, especially the long-neglected roses. And so I dragged down the library copy of The Pruner's Bible, and checked up all the details on what I should be doing to my very leggy hybrid teas.

Then I proceeded to not do it.

I just can't. It says that all the canes should be cut down to 10" above the ground and 6" for thin ones. Can. Not. Do. It. But I did remove about half of the old branches, per instructions, and mostly from the tangled middle. They do look much more open now, I must admit. But I've only pruned two bushes so far, and already the pile on the ground looks like enough to make a very large rose bush out of. I hope I haven't slaughtered the poor things. Time will tell, I reckon.

Meanwhile, the year of discovery sails on throughout the yard. There's almost too much to keep track of. The half-barrel planter on the deck has sprouted in yellow crocus. Just today, they've started blooming. Under the shrubs by the deck some sort of narcissus is coming up, and under the big shrubby tree at the corner, there's white primrose in a bowl and what looks for all the world like cyclamen leaves coming up, too. In fact, I'm finding all sorts of bulb flowers poking up around the yard -- more crocus, plus tulip-by-the-look-of-the-leaves down at the feet of the roses. And I've realized that whatever-they-are in the bed under the big apple tree grow from tubers, ginger-like tubers, rather than bulbs. Still no idea what they are. Time will tell, I reckon.

Meanwhile, I should probable post this before IE crashes again. My system seems to have come down with a major case of lurgi, and I have no idea what's up. Time will tell, I reckon.

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

After many years, I've concluded that pruning roses is -- no matter what The Books try to make you think -- much more of an Art than a Science. Much depends not only on the type of rose you're working with, but the specific variety. ("Mr. Lincoln", for example, is a hybrid tea -- but [at least under my conditions] really wants/needs to be pruned much higher than is recommended for that type.)

And then there's your goal. Severe cutting-back typically results in larger flowers, but (often many) fewer of them. My guess is that you're not interested in winning a blue ribbon at a flower-show, but want some showy color in the yard and bunches of attractive cut flowers. For that, the kind of pruning you describe having done -- thinning-out crowded centers & crossing-branches, and cutting-back to pencil-thick stems, just above an outward-facing bud, is probably perfectly fine. (If you're like me, you're likely to end up with masses of blossoms a foot or so higher than you expected them to be, but most gardens aren't so tightly-designed that this will be a problem. And there's always next year.)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate your expertise, and always hope that you'll be reading when I've done a garden post, just in case you have something to add.

"Design" is rather too strong a word for the garden at the moment. So as long as I don't do lasting harm to the bushes, I won't worry too much about the rest. They probably will be tall -- these bushes are quite old, and some of the canes were running to 8' tall before I had a whack at them. I think that particular cultivar has got to have been bred for bouquets, because the stems are enormously long.

Lots of flowers would be lovely -- I'll hope for that -- but as you say, there's always next year, and in the mean time, I'm learning. I suspect that I should get off and figure out what the organic thingy that you can spray on dormant roses to fight black spot is, because they've had a hell of a case this past year and I'd like to get it under control.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, everything that he said. Remember that most gardening books are written for the bulk of the country where they have winters and severe freezing weather and lots of winter die back. I used to joke that rose pruning in Minnesota was simply cutting off everything that died over the winter, hence back to 6-12 inches. I know you have more winter than we do, but I doubt you get much die back.

Here in SJ, current rose pruning wisdom is to be much milder. Some rosarians recommend merely cutting back 1/3 to 2/3 of the previous year's growth. Mind, that's not total growth, just the previous year's growth. In other words, you're letting the bush get a little larger every year.

My Mr. Lincoln has told me in no uncertain terms that it wants to be 6' tall. If I cut it down to 2', it'll be 6' by the end of the season. If I cut it down to 4-5', it'll be 6'. That's where it likes to be. Ditto Tropicana, Sheer Bliss, Perfume Delight, Melody Parfume, etc.

Best thing for black spot: shovel prune susceptible varieties, replant with resistant varieties. Really. Choose the battles you want to fight. Replacing a rose once is far easier than spraying all season long, year after year. Plant life is not sacred. If it gives you grief, get rid of it. It sounds pretty harsh, and it does depend on your goals. If you want a garden to fuss over, go ahead, keep fussy plants. I have no patience with them. The alternative, of course, is to simply tolerate the problem. I don't even notice rust on roses anymore. Black spot is more devastating, I grant.

Naming

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

"Some rosarians..."

Rosicrucians, surely? It being San Jose and all...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I will keep the shovel pruning in reserve, depending on how things go this year. I'm just not willing to give up first thing on bushes that may well be as old as I am. (Actually, I have no idea, but the stock is *old*. And the house was built in '47, so they can have been here close to that long.) Although it may be a sustained battle I'm in for -- all of the bushes in question are yellow-pink in color, and I see that most if not all yellow roses are particularly prone to black spot, owing to a common, susceptible, rosa foetida ancestor.

I don't know that I will spray at all if I don't get in with lime sulfur before the leaves sprout. Last fall I was having pretty good luck with nipping and pruning off infected leaves and canes as I found them, and if we get a dryer summer, that may be enough.