Lavender Simplicity Rose Pruning?

[GardenGeisha]

The forsythia are in full bloom here in Salt Lake City, Utah, Zone 6-7, and temps were cold last night-- 26 F.

I am scared to prune roses. Often times what I think is a dead cane turns out to be just a dark cane that is alive, and I have probably cut some of them off, losing potential flowers.

Last year I had a lavender Simplicity hedge rose, which I thought had died the year before, come back from its roots. It is smaller than it used to be, but it bloomed very prettily last summer, anyway. This spring it seemed to have dead wood atop 2 of its 3 small canes, so I cut that off, leaving those two canes about 12" tall. A third cane seems very healthy and green all the way to the top, and is about 3-4 feet tall. I realize you are supposed to cut the canes to approximately the same height, but I am having a hard time doing so, thinking this rose is weak and cutting it down too much could kill it.

Do you suppose not cutting the tall cane down to the level of the other 2 could weaken the rose, causing it do die, as well?

It is a hedge rose, and I have read that they don't require much pruning, just removal of dead canes. What do you think I should do? To cut down, or not to cut down?

I hate pruning, snipping, debudding, pinching. I do not have the right personality for such. I wish I could learn to tell truly dead canes from just darker ones that still have life.

 

[thistlebloom]

There's no harm at all in allowing your roses to grow until they are leafed out and then cutting the obvious dead canes down to live tissue. Also, don't fertilize them until all the leaves are fully expanded.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Thanks, Thistlebloom.

So you think it would be fine if I leave the one giant cane alone on the Lavender Simplicity rose that has the two pruned canes that are much, much shorter than that one long one?

 

[thistlebloom]

Yep. If they haven't been in the ground long I would let them grow and develop a good root system for a few seasons before doing any substantial pruning.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Thanks, Thistle.

This rose has been in the ground about 5 year. Two winters ago we had a freeze on Thanksgiving of 0 degrees F, which shocked all the roses, since they weren't yet dormant.

I thought I had last several of the Lavender Simplicity roses as they did not do well at all the following summer, and this particular rose in question disappeared but suddenly reemerged last August, sending up new growth from its roots.

So it has been in the ground for some time, but it was shocked by that cold weather. Two other lavender simplicities were also affected and came back from their own roots.

So you are saying I should just baby them along and not prune them at all?

We did prune some of them last spring, the ones that had survived, because they were severely blackened. I thought for sure we'd lose them, but they survived and went on to bloom beautifully last summer. I think if we hadn't cut off all that icky frozen black stuff they might have died? I mean it was bad and ugly.

But I'm not sure what I cut off this rose in question this year was actually dead. It might have fooled me. So I'd better just leave well enough alone from now on until I am sure of what I am doing.

So it's not true that not pruning roses, at least moderately, weakens them? It's not necessary to prune roses; right? Other than removing dead canes when you realize they are truly that?

 

[thistlebloom]

They may be only marginal in your area if you've had them in five years and they are still struggling.

Roses don't need to be pruned to strengthen them, pruning is for aesthetics, or for selectively increasing bloom size.

Pruning for their health only requires that you prune out dead, diseased or poorly spaced canes.

To reiterate, just wait for the rose to come out of dormancy and leaf out. When it's obvious which canes are dead, or how much of a cane is dead prune it back to live tissue.

 

[GardenGeisha]

I've been told that lavender colored roses are hardest to grow, they are weaker than other colors, not surviving winters as easily as other colors. Ditto for yellow/orange roses.

Some of my lavender simplicity roses have done well and are huge. Others have floundered. About 50/50.

Hmm, good to know. I asked my friend who went to the Rose Society's pruning classes last year with me, and he said he got the impression from them, like I did, that it is important to prune, so as not to weaken the rose, that pruning makes them healthier. I'm with you. I like your approach much better. We did prune pretty heavily last year, and they did well, but I don't think I'm going to prune much at all this year, just obviously dead canes, as you suggest. I'm not going to worry with the all-one-height bit the Rose Society recommends. I'm too much of a dummy to know what I'm doing.

 

[897tgigvib]

Some of the Roses in Montana's zone 4 are best not pruned until around 4th of July when only the obvious dead growth is removed. After that, pretty much only deadheading the flowers. Austrian Copper, Hansa, Rubra, the tough as nails bunch are like that.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Interesting, Marshallsmyth.

I notice my roses that are inbetween 2 buildings do the best. They stay much warmer over the winter, and protected from the wind. But I'm in Zone 6-7, Salt Lake City. I have been buying the hardier floribundas since the cold winter scare of a few years ago.

I lost a Mr. Lincoln in it, but it has come back. I think it's probably the Dr. Huey rootstock, but that is better than nothing.

 

[897tgigvib]

The Mr. Lincoln sure is a beautiful classic Rose, but is tender. That one is a good one for a large container, to bring into a sunroom during winter and then out after frosts are done.

You know, it's not the frosts of late fall that do them in, it's the length of the real cold season, and the super cold that kills the stem tips and upper buds.

Week's Roses has and far as i know, still is breeding up a nice long list of roses that are very tough for zones 3, 4, and 5. They look and grow like hybrid teas, but they have very tough and thick stems, and they are bred for good root systems too, so they are not grafted. This way, if a very bad winter hits and they die down to the roots, they can come back up from the roots.

Like Lazarus! Oh, my boss at the greenhouse nursery i worked at in montana had a Hansa Rose that froze back to the roots one winter. By early July it had still not come back, and she would look at it all sad. I said, Roxi, don't write it off yet. I think she's still down there. Sure enough, one, then another and another yellowish buddy stems came up. Probably from roots very deep. Don't know why, but that one spot probably got hit extra cold that winter that did that. But after that, that Hansa rose got nice and big, very beautiful! That was when I named Roxi's Hansa Rose that she was actually mourning, Lazarus. Came back from the dead.