Page 12 - 2019 Sonoma County Gardeners Resource Guide

SonomaCountyGazette.com GARDENERS CALENDAR
An annual ritual for rosegrowers is the pruning of roses sometime from December to the end of March. But why do the bushes need to be pruned?
For centuries they were left to their own devices and each year they bloomed. One year a rose garden was accidentally burned and that next spring the garden was full of huge rose blossoms.
Each year roses need to go into a dormancy once the nights become cool
or frosty so that the Spring is full of the expected large, full blooms. Here in Sonoma County, it really never gets cold enough to do this naturally so we prune. The pruning should be done late enough so that it is cool enough to stay dormant and before the nights warm. With the warming of the weather it is getting difficult to know when to prune. And the time is getting shorter each year.
It used to be that if I had roses for the table on Thanksgiving, it was an unusual event. This year, I cut fully open roses and buds from my bushes on December 29th.
Pruning is a process that takes time and energy but the results are definitely worth it. The first step in pruning is the major clearing out of the bush. Most bushes are taken down 1/2 to 2/3 of their height. The dead wood is removed and the leaves are removed from the canes.
ROSES cont’d on page 13
By Master Rosarian Barbara Ellis
For many years, the roses were burned to the ground which allowed the new growth to provide lovely flowers. Eventually the head gardener decided that there had to be a less drastic way to get those blooms without the risk of burning down the residence.
Today with grafted roses, this method would not work as well since the graft might be burned and the blooms would be from the rootstock – not what we are looking to see.
The second step is to remove all the crossing canes, cut off all small (less than the size of a pencil) canes and open the center of the bush to allow air flow. Make these cuts just above a place where a cane or bud will develop and where the cane or bud will face outwards. In our weather, it is fairly easy to determine this.
The third step is to reduce the number of canes to around 3 to 8.
Finally, any leaves that
have fallen to the ground
need to be picked up and
the bush and surrounding
ground should be sprayed
with a dormant spray of
copper or sulfur. Spray
the surrounding ground
thoroughly as leaves that are left will allow the spores of fungi to survive the winter and infect the rosebush in the Spring when the leaves are very vulnerable. Expect to find blackspot and rust (two common rose fungi) on the leaves of your plants when you prune as the cooler Fall weather is the perfect environment for them.
12 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/19
The only roses that do not get this same treatment are: once blooming roses where they are pruned after they bloom (these roses bloom on the previous year’s growth), David Austin (or English roses) which do not like to be pruned
as much (cut off about 1/3 and remove fewer