It's Rose Pruning Time

Rose pruning, a very important spring job unless of course you got it out of the way earlier in the winter.  A great guide here on the west coast is no rose pruning after the forsythia is in bloom.  I like to get my roses cleaned up not long after Christmas, it allows me more time to focus on other chores.

The beautiful yellow rose at Artisan's Garden that has stood proud for almost 20 years is a great example of how hard you can prune, I tend to do a heavy prune then go back a week or two later and take off any other weaker branches. It’s so important to think about air flow so cutting out those middle stems at this point is very helpful as well. This stunning Floribunda gives us beautiful blooms all summer and lovely buds up to Christmas, so we can use those in a few wreaths for the holiday season.

The trick to a continual bloom is how we dead head throughout the summer, finding the 3 nodes down the branch and cutting just a quarter of an inch above it, and before long you have given energy for another set of blooms.  I have to be honest; Floribunda is my favorite rose.  However, when pruning all roses, be sure to look for those nodes cutting on a diagonal for all your roses. Always use clean sharp sheers, I love Felco #2 pruners. 

Don’t be afraid - roses love to be pruned! If you walk through Butchart Gardens for example when the roses are sleeping you will see just how hard they prune their roses.  You will have a much stronger, longer show if you do this. So many great videos to help with each variety, Ed does our climbers and he learned off YouTube honestly, at first, I was alarmed at how few branches he left but it was absolutely stunning. So please go out the next few weeks before you see those yellow forsythia flowers in show and give your roses a hard prune, they will pay you back with the most beautiful show. 

Important things to remember when hard pruning:

• Use sharp clean cutters

• Cut branches on a diagonal to prevent disease

• Remove damaged, dead branches and diseased branches (not all grey stocks are dead so I do a snap test)

• Add compost around the base of the plant the first sign of new leaves, (also around the time forsythias bloom)

Ed adds sea soil in the early spring to all our beds at home and AG, it seems to last all summer, however you can add a granular organic multipurpose fertilizer, alfalfa meal, or compost. I would not fertilize after July.

Artisan's carries a tree and shrub organic product that works great, Dirt and Grow brand from Manitoba. Gotta love “made in Canada”, another family run business, well priced and smells like s#*t, so it works, - we love it!

Live life in full bloom!

Gwen