Now—To Prune Roses

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 183, 3 August 1940, Page 7 (Supplement)

Now—To Prune Roses

Garden Notes

THE time is at hand for pruning 1 roses. This does not include what aTe called "ramblers"; the best time for dealing with them is in the late summer. The art of pruning is a matter of perplexity to some amateurs. Roses do not all grow alike or produce their flowers in the same way. Some, like the hybrid teas, make their growth in spring, and flower from the top of it in summer. Others, like the Glori« de Dijon, throw up long shoots and flower from the sides of the shoots. They may or may not carry a flower on the top of the shoot, but at any rate the best flowers come from the sides. Then there are the "ramblers"—those that flower only once a year, such as the crimson rambler and Dorothy Perking. These throw out gross, fat, blind shoots from or near the base of the plant one year, and from the sides of these shoots come the best flowers the following year. Then the Banksian and the Persian yellow do not bear flowers on

new growth until the third year; they carry their flowers on the second growth from the new shoot. There is also diversity in habit even among roses of the. same class. Don't Prone Too Hard It is a curious fact that the more inexperienced an amateur is the more he wants to prune his would think he would be most reluctant to cut off any shoots whatever, but it really is just the opposite, and he frequently erre Uy pruning too much than too little,. One reason why we prune is to stimulate growth, or stronger growth than the plant would have made it if it had been left unpruned. It follows, therefore, that where a variety will make good growth without being pruned there is no need to prune in order to stimulate growth. The hybrid perpetual does not, of its own free will, send up strong flowering shoots from low down the plant, but has to be made to do it by hard pruning; all it would do, if left alone, is to grow on higher from the top; the new shoots being email and short carrying thin and undersized flowers. The hybrid tea, the present predominating class of garden

roMM, is remarkable for its activity in growth and the reason for hard pruning is disappearing. Merely Control Them With the pillar rosea of the critfison rambler type no pruning is neededto make them grow; but, if left alone they would get completely out of hand, and pruning ie necessary in their case to keep the plant within bounds. Then, again, in the case of large, old bushes, pruning is necessary to admit light and air to the centre of the plant. Another reason for pruning is to keep the plant young in respect of growth. A young plant, when received from the nursery, is a plant of one year's growth. It has no old wood, but only that which has grown up in the summer previous to planting, and we should prune to reduce an old plant to the state of a new plant. As a rule it will be found that the stronger a rose grows the less it should be "cut back, and the shorter its growth the more the shoot should be reduced in ■ length. .On each growth there are better . eyes than others; some are rosy and ■ plump, others green and flat, and it is from the former class of eyes that the > best blooms will come. Before we begin to cut we select three i or four of the' strongest cf these young ; shoots—in preference choosing those that i spring from outside rather than the I centre of the plant. Cut off all sidei growths quite close to the main stem, t and cut the shoot through just above I an eye. The best tool for pruning is a ! good, strong pair of secateurs with a l curved blade.