Tips for March include pruning some, but not all, roses – and a vital first step
A simple gardening task should be completed this month, says an expert(Image: SHARED CONTENT UNIT)
As spring advances, those lucky enough to have gardens can’t wait to get out there to do some tidying up and make plans for summer. To help them, there has been plenty advice around from cutting hedges to timely tasks for March, such as making small holes in garden fences to help create a safe route for hedgehogs as they emerge from hibernation and set off to seek food.
Now another suggested task to complete before the end of this month concerns a floral favourite – the rose. The beautiful blooms, loved for their colours and scent, are a top choice for gardens but they can be notoriously tricky to maintain properly.
Now a horticultural specialist called Simon, from the Walking Talking Gardeners YouTube channel, has addressed the much-debated question of pruning, reports The Mirror. He says: “There is a lot of conflicting advice about how and when to cut your roses.
“However, most professionals concur that the task should be completed before the blooms fully emerge from dormancy towards the end of March. But this does not apply to all and he also offers guidance on the timing and technique for trimming roses which he says generally fall into four main categories with each requiring a slightly different pruning approach.
Of the varieties – rambling; climbing; shrub and the more diverse hybrid tea and floribunda – two of them, as outlined below, must be pruned this month, he says. But, ahead of removing dead, damaged or diseased stems, there’s an essential first task:
Cleaning your equipment
Simon says sterilising cutting blades before starting the job can avoid big problems. “Roses are an absolute magnet for fungal diseases, bacterial infections and viruses,” he says.
“When you cut into these infected plants with your secateurs, you get the infected sap on your blade. So, as soon as you cut into another plant, you’re making a fresh wound and then the infected sap that’s on there touches the the fresh wound and whatever bacterial viral or fungal infections are on it are going to be passed onto that other plant.”
He advises either heat-treating the secateur blades or cleaning them by rubbing with alcohol, allowing roughly 15 minutes before wiping it away.
Pruning different varieties of rose
Climbing roses – the first variety of rose requiring attention in March is the climbing rose. “Climbing roses are very different because they flower on the new season’s wood,” says Simon.
There is debate amongst gardeners regarding the ideal timing for pruning climbing roses. Some specialists say November; others favourMarch.
Simon says: “You get two benefits by cutting in March that you don’t get by cutting in November. The problem with November cuts is that the weather can still be very mild and also extremely damp.
“As such, there are still a lot of fungal infections floating around in the air that waiting to infect your fresh cuts.” He says pruning roses prematurely robs people of a second showing of decorative rose hips which, besides being an attractive feature in autumn, also provide essential nourishment for wildlife.
“So cut them in March in my opinion,” he says. “Cut them back to your framework and they’ll flower on that new growth.”
A garden specialist advises pruning certain roses in March (Image: Getty Images)
Hybrid teas and floribundas – these varieties, says Simon, are arguably the most uncomplicated roses to manage and likewise shoud be trimmed in March. “It’s difficult to make mistakes because you have the rose rule of thirds.”
He explains you cut these varieties in the third week of the third month – March – to the “third outward-facing bud”. You advises locating three buds from the base of the stem and pinpointing the outward-facing one, then cutting at an angle.
“Never make a flat cut because you can get water sitting on top of these open wounds and that can increase the risk of fungal infections making their way through. Always cut at an angle so that any rain just slides off.”
Rambling roses – this variety requires pruning at alternative points in the calendar. “The pruning times for your rounding roses is always immediately after flowering,” says Simon.
“You’re not trying to prune it back to a framework like you would do a climbing rose – you’re just trying to tidy up, stop it being so messy. You want to encourage that rather romantic twisting climbing feature of it.”
He says many gardeners confuse the rambling and climbing varieties which is where difficulties can arise. Rambling roses produce blooms on wood from the previous season and Simon warns: “People often confuse these with climbing roses that are pruned either at the end of the year or in the spring – and if you do that with a rambling rose, wherever you’ve cut it, you’re not going to get any flowers.”
Anyone who is uncertain about which type of roses they are growing can follow a helpful guideline to tell them apart: climbing varieties typically flower multiple times throughout the season with larger blooms on rigid stems, whilst rambling roses are vigorous, pliable and usually produce one spectacular show of smaller clustered flowers around June.
With rambling roses, Simon advises removing crossing branches alongside any clearly dead or damaged stems, saying: “Crossing branches can damage the bark, damage the cambium layer and that can be an infection point for bacteria, fungal infections and viruses.”
Shrub roses – these also should be left untouched during March, according to Simon. These varieties are gaining popularity amongst gardeners primarily because they have better disease resistance and need low maintenance.
“They mostly flower on the previous season’s wood,” says Simon. “That flowering time tends to run out about the end of summer and that is when you would make your cuts.
“You don’t cut it as you would do a hybrid tea or floribunda in the spring, or about March time, simply because you’re going to produce loads of new growth so you’re not going to get any blooms from it. So timing is absolutely paramount. You’ve only really got that one time immediately after flowering and you’re not cutting too much off it.”
We have a dedicated newsletter for ChronicleLive’s money-saving and cost of living stories. It’s free and you can sign up to receive it here.
Did you know you can make ChronicleLive a preferred source of North East news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here.
Comments are closed.