Apropos of Nothing v.8

Was just reading about all your rose pruning tips and just sort of laughed to myself....I must be a terrible gardener because today I went out with a pair of pruners and was pretty merciless to the rose we inherited with this house. Beats me if it's a floribunda or grandiflora or a grandibunda........all I know is that it seems to love being cut back drastically every year because it gives us a summer full of huge perfectly shaped yellow rose blossoms.....was it the wrong time to do that? who knows? the rose will let us know I guess.

I think roses really love to be pruned---Or they hate it so when it happens they grow like crazy. :) The roses and the rhodies are the only things in my garden that I fertilize. That may be why my plants don't go hog-wild. And I sure don't try for sculptured, I'm not big on pruning. ^_^ And if you could see me down on the ground, scooting on my butt cleaning out all the cracks in the walkway every year, you might not like the paths either.

Summer, Roses move just fine, especially this time of year. If you have a monster, you will definitely have to cut it back significantly to make the move a happy one for either of you. If it looked glorious in its big form, find a place where you can transplant it and let it run riot without eating your vegie area. A corner of the lawn or something (grass is definitely over rated after all......).

Lady, I am laughing now too at your description of "managing" your rose (and espically at grandibunda...I may have to use that some time!). Not a terrible gardener, just one learning by doing! I have spent a lot of time on that myself. I know roses as I always helped Mom prune hers before I ever had a yard of my own (and yes, she has almost as many as I do). I don't, however know all of the other misc things I have been "pruning" back in my yard over the last ten years. I never really had to do any pruning other than roses and fruit trees in Federal Way. Now EVERYTHING goes crazy and all has to be "kept under control". I have had a few instances of "Ooopps, probably shouldn't have done that.....", but you are right...the plant lets you know!

Willow, LOL at the image of the path cleanup. The things we aren't really aware of when they are not ours to maintain! :) Your end result is lovely though!

I absolutely love the paths that came with the house. They are grey chips lined with wood and topped with cement turtle stepping stones. Absolutely no maintenance.

There are about 200 of these turtles, big & small, on the property, like under every bush. The previous owners left the molds too, so looks as if they just made turtles whenever they had cement left over on one of their contracting projects. I'm going to put about half of them on craigslist but I'll bet they'd be good legal tender at a roundup too, no?

I like that: Grandibunda. (!)
No - not wrong, LFS. The main things were covered by Kathy (katie59), and another important thing to remember is to open them up in the center, particularly if you are in an area that gets an abundance of rain.
Another thing - pruning stimulates growth from the rootstock, which is important in that you will have new canes for flowering. Climbers don't like to be pruned so much, as i would a Hybrid tea. Does the rose bloom continually, or is once per season? I don't like spindly canes, so i prune hard every other year. Well, that depends as I am merciless with some of them. So anything whose thickness is less than my pinkie, goes.
It is not too early - i pruned most of mine about 3-4 weeks ago. I was risking it, but i was also in a state of pruning zen...
OK - 1 more: 2 years ago a local Rosarian advised me to plant hybrid teas deep - 4-6" above the graft. This causes the rose to produce roots on its graft instead of the rootstock: no reverting. Last year they all went crazy. I'll let you know their progress this summer. I prefer shrub roses, but really like to grow the HTs for cutting.
'Voodoo' - tall, narrow growth habit & the picture does not show how it glows...

SK - yau are so right about that. $ell!

No, no, I mean for trading!

$ell & trade!!!

Quoting Katye:

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/pruning-subshrubs.aspx

The current issue of Fine Gardening is very good. I used to subscribe but let it drop a year ago. But I got this one.

It's my favorite.

When I moved into this house, the gardener across the street, from whom I learned many things, told me that the time to prune roses was when the forsythia bloomed. This way you would prune roses according to the correct time for your area. Now, of course, it means you have to have a forsythia to know when it is blooming! I have never lost a rose by pruning, no matter when.
I do know that if you want more blooms on those climbers or ramblers, put stress on the canes by bending them. This cases the lateral branches to begin growing, with the growing tips for flowers. Like Julie, I like for mine to be really tall and out of the way, then I can plant things underneath them. I'm going to have to do something to support the ones in front of the love shack this year.

Portland, that doctor's office sounds awesome! My doctor has really come through for me as well. Although I am still fighting whatever this is that has hold of my lungs, I have the nurse's private line if I need to call. Looks like I will have to call again. :(

summerkid, a big yes on all kinds of pulmonaria. I love them. Here is 'raspberry splash', if the tag is correct.

My forsythia is beginning to show color and my fingers are itching to get after the roses. I usually wait and do the fertilizing on a good rainy day so I don't have to water it in. Tis true about bending over the long canes to send up vertical blooming ones.

Apical dominance inhibits growth of flowers lower on the cane. So, when you bend the canes, the arching traps the inhibiting hormones at the tips & forces flower production along the cane.

Ah... the scientific explanation! Thanks,, Katye!

Apical dominance - I love that term. I have a climbing rose I planted in the fall - is it too soon to apply the apical dominance principle? Apical dominance, apical dominance. I love saying it.

Gardeners have apical dominance, too...

Judi, how tall is your climber?

That does have a nice ring to it - apical dominance. Let's see how many times we can use it today. Hee-hee

(*&^$% roses. I have decided that pruning them is neither fun nor interesting, and yet dangerous.

Manged 2 hybrids & half of one bush, then thankfully the Super Bowl started, and being intensely interested in the outcome of football contests, I had to put down my pruners. For good, methinks.

You need sharp shears and long leather rose gloves. And a rececpticle to put the branches in as they are cut. Not fun but necessary.

I was just looking at the new subscribers and Dean, who is building my shed, just joined us. And if you are reading this, Good for you, and I'll see you tomorrow.^_^

My climber is only about 24" tall. And another I think bush type I planted is about 30" tall. The bush type was one that Jackson Perkins had sent me in error when I ordered the climber, so I really don't know exactly what it is. Both of them kept their leaves all through the 14 degree nights when we had that cold spell. I was surprised at that. What rose food do you use?

I think I have the winter blues. I need sun, and I need it NOW! We had about 5 minutes of sun today and that is just not enough. My birthday is in March and I am meeting all my kids and grandchildren in Park City to ski and play in the snow. I can hardly wait. I am thinking about driving since I have never been to Boise and I could drive through there on my way. And if I drive I can take my dog. I'm looking forward to it!

Um, Judi, the area around Boise is, hands down, the ugliest stretch of America that I have seen.

Sounds like a good vacation. I used to ski at Hyak. My ex was on the Ski Patrol.

I always strip all leaves off my roses in November. It helps them to go dormant. Plus for just a little while you don't have any leaves laying around. Also helps with disease.

It's suppose to be nice for a couple more days.

Also, what is your suggestion if the hybrid teas are spaced precisely so that, if my face is in one, my butt is in another? Are adult diapers appropriate for such a situation?

Oh my - that does not sound promising. How long does it take to drive through the ugly part?

Take out every other bush and move them elsewhere. LOL Depends might be good padding so you don't get poked so much.

Well, there's like a gorgeous "wall" to demarcate Western Oregon as you climb up onto a vast plateau, and after that it's just ugly-ugly till you get near Salt Lake.

Although we did see some wild horses.

But what am I doing, discouraging someone from seeing the world for themselves.

Katye, back on the 4th you posted a picture of Kent Beauty Oregano. That purple above it is not part of KB, what is it? Beautiful. I love the KB, always has been one of my favorites. I can't grow it over here in the eastern part of the state. But love it.

Jeanette

Has anyone ever tried pruning roses with a chainsaw? The canes seem stiff enough, perhaps.

Too bad Redchic is not on DG anymore - she is the chainsaw queen.

Oh, I remember her from some forum or another. Where'd she go?

Jnette - Bristol Cross. I got it at Wells Medina Nursery in Bellevue - provided by Xera Plants.
They have a website: xeraplants.com
The bracts are about 2" long & last quite a long time. Hardy to Z6. This one was in a container & totally exposed on my driveway. No mulch - no time. Everything in that container is coming back - the little rosettes of the oreganos are going to town.
Another one is Rossenkuppel, a Dutch introduction. Compact, but similar to Herrenhausen & Hopley's Purple.

Thanks Katye, I will take a look. I wonder if they do mail order. Guess we'll see huh? I tried to hold a KB over one winter but it didn't make it.

.... OK, were those the dumbest, least-memorable Super Bowl ads ever?

And just when I thought godaddy couldn't sink any further in the genre of leering skeeviness, they managed to make me feel sexually assaulted in prime time.

You can always count on the eTrade baby & the Clydesdales, of course, and Bret Favre made me grin in a "laughing AT you" kind of way. But holy longhorn -- at least the game was good.

Jnette - if they have them at WM, I will get extra & send them to you.
I usually try a plant out first, and if it is successful, I'll always stock up the following year.

Totally agree SK. Boring commercials. Didn't really care about the game, but watched it. I was going with the Colts just because their quarterback has the same name as my granddaughter. Oh well.