Other Flowers you like

[Dollythehun]

You didn't ask me but, 5 minutes ago I read an article that said prune hip high in fall, knee high in spring. Since my roses are now pitiful because I can't use Three in One, I'm not a credible source.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

You didn't ask me but, 5 minutes ago I read an article that said prune hip high in fall, knee high in spring. Since my roses are now pitiful because I can't use Three in One, I'm not a credible source.

Whether I asked you or not, I certainly appreciate the input. You always have helpful things to say and I value your opinions. That actually makes more sense to me than hard pruning in the summer. If you hard prune in the summer, they're just going to keep growing and get big again. Right now, my Midas Tough has a huge flush of new growth with lots of buds, and my Desert Peace has been growing and blooming nonstop all fall, and it has quite a few buds on it now also, and the fall flowers when it is cooler are as nice as the first flowers of the spring before it gets hot, so I certainly don't want to prune yet and cut off all those buds. I did prune on mine a little bit last week, just to remove canes that were too thin, and some wood that had leaves with black spot that I would have ended up pruning later anyway, but I left them mostly intact.

But why can't you use Three in One? I never had any disease problems on my roses in Oklahoma except for the occasional scale, and horticultural oil knocked that right out, so this is my first year to encounter any other disease. It isn't widespread, it's just on a few leaves on a couple of my plants, but I was thinking about using Three in One next year to prevent it from even beginning at all. Is there something wrong with Three in One? I try to avoid chemicals, but my roses are very important to me, so I don't mess around, and I'm willing to make an exception and use chemicals on my roses if that's the most effective way to keep them in top shape.

But I was wondering about ES's rationale for his pruning suggestion, and whether it might or might necessarily apply to my climate, as Dallas is very different from Phoenix, weather wise.

[Dollythehun]

Our Indiana climate is not known for its great roses. I quit using anything systemic outdoors so as not to harm any pollinators. My garden is au natural now.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Our Indiana climate is not known for its great roses. I quit using anything systemic outdoors so as not to harm any pollinators. My garden is au natural now.

It is a lot more work with out chemicals but strangely rewarding. Not in the flowers or fruits and veggies sense, but rewarding none the less

I joke but it is more work and I salute you bc the pollinators are for all of us and they are in danger

[estación seca]

Roses grow and flower throughout our winters. We don't get enough frost to damage plants nor flowers. Their struggle is to survive our summers, when they hardly grow at all. Summer rose flowers here are about an inch in diameter and burn shortly after they begin opening. Roses need as many leaves as possible to make it through the summer, which dictates pruning just as it begins cooling down in fall. After the first strong flush of flowering around Thanksgiving, they grow vigorously all fall-winter-spring. January pruning often leads to rapid decline and death in a few years.

[WaterWitchin]

Sounds to me like y'all (JScott and estación seca) may have to prune at different times based on the differences in climate and best growth season.

My climate is similar to Dolly's (similar, not same) but we both have a climate where roses lose all their leaves and sit dormant. I prune similar to what Dolly says. Here, I'm lucky to have anything in spring to prune other than dead stalks from winter kill. Could I do better? Sure... like cover roses, etc. But for me there are other things that require more attention and it never seems to happen.

[Dollythehun]

Here covering them is a crapshoot too. I grew teas, switched to Bonicas, then when I lost those, to Floral Carpets. They do okay for a few years but, in amended sand, only last a short while without Three in One. Since sandy soil needs highly frequent watering, spraying was not practical. When I was a much younger gardener, I was more up to the task. Much of my garden now is what will thrive in benigne neglect. However, my ferns and Forest Grass stir WW's envy.

[WaterWitchin]

Absolutely does age affect how much we can do, or care to do, for our plants. Some of my benign neglect flowerbeds over the years have also become favorites.

Ferns and forest grass.... Ah... we of course admire and like best the plants of others that we struggle with growing well. Still pretty sure Ostrich fern is gonna be the death of me. Or maidenhair fern. Or a fine crop of forest grass.....

[Dollythehun]

I'm still happy to share...

[JScott]

Guys, thank you for all of the information. It seems to me that in my climate, pruning in February is probably the way to go. In this part of the country, the summer blooms are a bit smaller than the spring and autumn ones, but they're still respectable, and the plants have no trouble surviving the summer. They start to get really nice again in the autumn when it cools down, and I usually get the last flush of really nice blooms about this time (my Midas Touch is covered in buds right now, and they will probably be almost as good as the first flush in the spring when they bloom).

They stop growing in the winter, but they never lose all of their leaves, but they haven't stopped yet, so I think if I were to prune now, the new shoots would start to grow, and then they'd get blasted if we get a really hard freeze (we don't always get a hard freeze, meaning like in the 20s,or below freezing for an extended period of time, but sometimes we do).

I like comparing how we have to do things in different parts of the country based on our different climates. Although I think now my initial instinct to wait until February or so to prune is probably right, this has been an interesting discussion, and I thank all of you for sharing with me.

But I still thank you, ES, for suggesting that I plant with the graft union below the soil. The one I planted that way really has thrived in a way I never would have expected from a first year rose.