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Jo McEnroe's avatar

Hi! I have inherited my father’s potted roses. They are several years old, and despite helping my dad in dead heading, I am feeling a bit lost. I love your ‘keep it simple’ approach. My father always took the stem down to an outward facing five leaf stem. Is this the same approach you mention? Thank you for your interesting and informative posts. I live in Texas , USA, practically on top of limestone rock which makes planting them often difficult . Take care,

Jo

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Yes, those 5-leaflets, although I believe David Austin ran a trial and it didn’t seem matter all that much. I take it down to a 5 as it shortens the stem and keeps a shrub more compact

Thank you very much! I’m on chalk, so not as bad as solid limestone but still challenging enough. Maybe raised beds to give you more planting depth. I did that here for my vegetable beds.

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Jo McEnroe's avatar

Thank you for your reply . 😌 raised beds sound perfect!

What do you do about pruning very leggy rose bush stems? Those that only have foliage on the end and your pruning most of it back?

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Hard to say without seeing it. It does happen. Especially older roses which do run out of steam and need hard pruning to revive them. As in cutting any flowerless canes down to just a foot from the ground. Or even right down to the ground. You could also try a high-potash feed to give them a boost.

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🌱🌸Katherine🌸🌱's avatar

Thank you, great video! I've got to do it this weekend as the weather is promising to be good. My Sheila's Perfume rose especially has grown very tall and towering above my head. I have to drastically reduce it or I won't be able to smell any of the lovely flowers.

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Thank you very much for watching! Glad to hear you enjoyed it. It's all very simple really. I still have my climbing roses to prune and I'm feeling that nagging countdown clock beginning to ring! But, I'm writing this at 3:35am and lack of sleep and sharp bladed are bad mix!

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Eleanor's avatar

This is great, thanks so much! I planted a new climbing rose last July - would you recommend pruning it this year or waiting until it's more established?

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Very welcome! I like to make sure climbing roses have good strong canes that will form the permanent structure of the rose. So I would prune out any weak growth.

Tie the strongest growth to canes or wires. Spread them out in a fan. You’ll have lots of flowering sideshoots off any horizontal and angled stems.

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Eleanor's avatar

Thank you, really appreciate it!

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Sigogne16's avatar

Thank you!!

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Thank you so much for reading 💚

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Wendy McKane's avatar

Just the practical advice I have been looking for-thank you for posting!

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Thank you so much for reading! So glad you enjoyed it!

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Helen Hazell's avatar

Thank you gir these posts Elliot

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

You’re very welcome Helen. Thank you for reading them!

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