With the winter season in full swing and we look ahead to the end, garden maintenance is more important than ever. It’s the perfect time to look after plants and flowers that will be looking to bloom in the spring and summer, and there’s a few tasks you should do now to reap the blossoming rewards later down the line.
Gardening expert and TikTok creator Michael Griffiths urged fellow green thumbs to turn their attention to their climbing roses, which could be looking a little bare. To encourage a bountiful growth later this year, you should consider pruning the plant before the season ends. In a recent TikTok video, Michael said: “To get better blooms on your climbing roses this year, you need to give it a prune now.”
How to prune climbing roses
Firstly, you’ll need to remove any dead, diseased or dying branches. To identify them from healthy, live branches, those that need to be removed are usually black or brown in colour.
These branches should be cut off at the base of the plant. Gardeners might also find that some of the climbing branches are weak.
These also need to be removed, as Michael pointed out they won’t be strong enough to hold the blooms come summertime. The gardening expert advised tying any stems or shoots together for support, tying them to the plant’s support structure. This will help prevent the stems from breaking.
Next you need to target side shoots, with Michael suggesting cutting them back to two thirds of their length on a 45 degree angle above a bud. Michael said: “This will encourage new shoots for the season ahead.”
He also advised cutting back any heavily “congested” plants by removing any branches that are particularly old at the base of the plant. This could divert energy away from new buds or healthy branches trying to bloom.
Michael described climbing roses as “big eaters”, so once the roses have been pruned, apply a generous amount of fertiliser or mulch during the spring to encourage more blossoms.
Gardeners’ World pointed out that late winter is the best time to prune most types of roses, apart from ramblers, which should be pruned during the summer. The publication wrote: “Prune shrub and climbing roses between November and February; bush roses should be left until late winter, around February, but avoid pruning in freezing conditions.”
Comments are closed.