chasnewbie wrote:
> Hi There,
>
> As you can see from my login name, I'm pretty new to gardening in
> general and roses in particular and have a problem I hope someone can
> help with.
>
> We have inherited a couple of rose trees (the best way to describe
> them) from the previous owners of our house. The problem is, they've
> been left to their own devices and have subsequently become very tall
> and thin, approximately 8 or 9 feet. At the business end of each,
> there are a lot of great blooms but I'd ideally like to cut them
> right back and start from scratch to get a bush rather than a tree.
>
> I don't think I'd have a problem if there were various stems dividing
> from the base but, rather like a tree, it's almost trunk-like and
> there are no divisons for the first three feet or so. I've a feeling
> that if i cut it back to where I'd like (almost soil level) I'd kill
> it and pruning back to where the stem begins to divide just wouldn't
> look right.
>
> In a nutshell, is it possible to cut right back, or do I just cut my
> losses and remove it and plane something else?
It sounds like, from your description, that you have a couple of three
foot
standard roses.
A standard rose is created by grafting bud wood to the top of a root stock
cane (these are usually some type of vigerous wild rose such as a briar
rose).
Examine the top of the cane you should see a calloused area where the bud
wood is shooting out the growth that has the flowers. Do NOT cut the rose
back beyond this point or you will get no flowers.
I have attached a couple of links that may be of use to you.
http://www.hellohello.com.au/growingrose/growingrose.html
http://www.swanesgardencare.com.au/Ben_Swane's_Rose_Growing_Tips.html
http://bestgardening.com/bgc/plant/rosesprune02.htm
http://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/Rose-Care_Planting-Pruning.htm
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