While I normally don’t like to stay on a theme for several posts in a row in this case I think it’s warranted. The theme is the amount of dieback on the roses from the hard winter. Based on your emails, comments and what I read on-line this is pretty widespread this year. So, bear with me while I do another one.

My first post was Polar Vortex Means A Hard Prune Is In Order For Some Roses. In this post I introduced the topic of the massive amount of die back and what I did to deal with it.

The second post was Wait Before Assuming The Cold Killed Your Rose. In this one I talked about how long it might take to see new growth once you cut your roses to the ground.

This post is simply an update on the roses I cut back to the ground in the first post. This was back in early March and it’s now April 24. About 6-7 weeks afterward and about 4 weeks into spring.

As you can see from the photograph they are coming back with a vengance. I also posted the first photo of the bed cut back so you can see the difference. They are putting out lots of new growth with nice cane formation. Some even have tiny buds on them. I’m not kidding myself I’m going to have the flowering from this bed I normally see. However, I’m heartened to know I don’t have to dig them all up and start over again. In fact, I expect this “renewal” will result in better, more vigorous plants over the upcoming seasons.

Plus any past pruning mistakes are now erased!

I’m also going back out to the roses that did not die all the way to the ground and are leafing out. What I’m checking for is any dead growth I may have missed. When you are pruning in late winter when the roses are dormant sometimes it’s hard to tell if a cane is dead. When I’m not sure I simply leave them; knowing I can come back later when the rose is leafed out and take them out then. I’d advise you to do the same when your roses start to leaf out. The reason not to leave it till summer is by then they are so leafed out you can’t see into them. Right now I can clearly see the dead growth vs the live growth.

If you have already cut your roses to the ground I hope the photo of the roses recovering gives you encouragement they will be just fine.

And if you haven’t, I hope it gives you the encouragement to do so.

Isn’t nature cool!

Happy Roseing
Paul

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