Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 9:10 am Posts: 1260 Location: Carrollton,TEXAS
Pruning roses is generally done around Valentine's Day. In Tyler, where they have the beautiful famous rose gardens, they prune them back in July (I believe) so they get a bunch of blooms by the time the rose festival rolls around in October.
http://www.tylertexas.com/cvb/visitors.htm As for the best method, get yourself some thick gloves and some sharp bypass pruners. It is best to cut the roses off just above where there are 5 leaves on the stem. Make the cut at an angle. If they are antique roses, you may want to leave the spent roses on the bush so you can get some great vitamin C from the hips. That is, of course, if you garden organically.
When doing the trimming, I do not think they should be cut back more than 2/3.
_________________ Nadine Bielling Haefs
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Gardener Exchange Forum
The Laws of Ecology:
"All things are interconnected. Everything goes somewhere. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Nature bats last." --Ernest Callenbach
In our area, the best times are right around Valentines day for your major pruning, then again in August for a light pruning; this will help with the fall flush of blooms.
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