| Author | Message | ||
     Allison Strong (Countess_wildrose) Intermediate Member Username: countess_wildrose Post Number: 26 Registered: 01-2006 |
Just checking in after a brief absence (long work hours lately), and want to thank you, Betty, for that great post above! | ||
| Rozanna Tamplin (Rozanna) Intermediate Member Username: rozanna Post Number: 22 Registered: 09-2004 |
I had decided to start prunning today whether I was supposed to or not - too many to wait any longer. Glad to finally hear from someone that it is o.k. | ||
| stephen scanniello (Steprose) Intermediate Member Username: steprose Post Number: 186 Registered: 01-2006 |
thanks, I know she'll get people out there pruning, I'm going to be on Martha Stewart's Radio program on Valentines Day | ||
| Jeri Jennings (Jeri) Intermediate Member Username: Jeri Post Number: 92 Registered: 01-2006 |
I have to defend my statements, I'm sure: but, the text is not quite accurate *** Very, VERY few reporters manage to get these things right. A garden reporter for the Sacramento Bee joined us last fall for one day of our rose rustle. She worked like a slave on that piece, AND contacted many good people, and she got everything right. The only error was made by a caption writer. Still a good piece, all in all! I'll forward it to my Houston cousins. Jeri Jennings | ||
| stephen scanniello (Steprose) Intermediate Member Username: steprose Post Number: 185 Registered: 01-2006 |
I have to defend my statements, I'm sure: but, the text is not quite accurate - for instance, she generalized many of the statements, obviously for space; and, the same for the comment on pruning climbers......in fact, what we pruned for this story was a climber....oh, well, it was still fun! PS: yes, prune your climbers now. | ||
| Betty Vickers (Bettyv) Member Username: Bettyv Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2004 |
I suppose the President's Corner is a good place for this! From today’s (Friday, February 3, 2006)Dallas Morning News (some pretty good pruning instruction here): The right way to prune roses 10:59 AM CST on Thursday, February 2, 2006 By MARIANA GREENE / The Dallas Morning News The base of a rose bush is where proper pruning begins. Pruning roses, for many amateurs, is a difficult process to grasp. Not until I witnessed expert rosarian Stephen Scanniello sever, snip and shape heirloom roses subjected to 20 years' worth of clumsy hacking did I begin to understand the correct procedure. If you grow old garden roses, prune them right away. If you raise modern hybrids, wait until Valentine's Day to complete this annual chore. Instructions are the same, although antique roses are more forgiving of incompetence than the finicky moderns. Unseasonable warmth has awakened roses from hibernation, so you'll be cutting away healthy new growth. But it can't be helped. Stand back and consider the remaining canes and branches, removing any that cross another branch and those that aim into the middle of the bush. When Mr. Scanniello, the new president of the Historic Rose Foundation, visited my garden last year, he turned up his nose at my red Felco secateurs. To my embarrassment, he wouldn't make a single cut until he had cleaned and sharpened them to his satisfaction, explaining that contaminated pruning tools could transmit disease to healthy roses and dull blades would not make the required crisp cuts. The night before his latest visit, I scrupulously swabbed and oiled the secateurs and imposed upon my husband to sharpen the blades with the gadget he uses on my fancy kitchen knives. "These are perfect," Mr. Scanniello proclaimed. "I would cut my salad with these and eat it off the plate." My complacence was short-lived. "Aw, there's a lot of deadwood down here," he said with a hint of reproach, looking at the base of a rosebush. "A lot of deadwood." Clean, sharp tools should be used in order to avoid transmitting diseases between plants and achieving crisp cuts. The base of a bush is where proper pruning begins. Remove one-fourth to one-third of the canes, severing them as close to the base as you can. Older, hardened canes should be removed in favor of green, softer canes. Stand back and consider the remaining canes and branches, removing any that cross another branch and those that aim into the middle of the bush. Cut what remains back to about 3 feet, severing the branch at an angle, just above an outward-facing bud eye. More advice: Use the same procedure with modern hybrids, only wait a week or two to do the job. Don't prune climbing roses until after they have bloomed this spring. If we have a hard freeze after pruning (and that's more likely than not), you may have to prune all over again to cut away any blackened new growth. Mr. Scanniello's book, Jackson & Perkins Rose Companions, is a good reference for roses. |