Tag Archives: Pruning

Winter Rose Prunning

Winter Rose Pruning.

January is a good time, in the mild South-East of England to carry out rose pruning. The principal reason for pruning roses is to maintain health and vigour. The removal of dead and diseased and damaged wood is particularly important in roses. They are prone to a variety of aliments and when planted in their traditional form on mass in a roses garden disease can spread with ease. So good rose health is important and winter pruning is a way to improve this. The pruning is not just about removing dead and diseased wood but also about improving the shape of the plant and possibly it’s size but also to maintain an open ‘airy’ habit that will help prevent disease being harboured and spread.

Basic techniques: an angled cut 5mm above an outward baring bud. For cutting out dead and old wood to remove it from the rose, a square flush cut.

stunning roses at Mottisfont Abbey

So you can enjoy healthy roses with a long flowering season in the year to come.

R. Ruby Wedding. Hybrid-tea

Hybrid Teas: Remove any shoots that are dead,diseased or damaged, cutting back to healthy wood. Position cuts to encourage outward growth that will not cross the centre or other stems. Shorten all remaining growth down to a height of 20cm above ground level.

R. The Queen Elizabeth. Floribundas

Floribundas: Cut out all dead,damaged and diseased wood back to healthy growth or remove to the base of the plant. Remove any stems that are rubbing or likely to rub against one another. Shorten any laterals back to 2 -3 buds from the main stem, cutting to an outward facing bud. Shorten the remaining stems to 25 -30cm from ground level.

R. Arizona sunset. Patio-miniture

Patio/Miniature: Remove any dead,diseased or damaged growth. Relieve congestion by cutting out the oldest stems entirely. Tip prune main stems to remove any of last seasons flowers. Prune any laterals back to within 1 or 2 buds of the main stem.

R. Iceberg. Stanard

Standard: Remove all dead, damaged and diseased growth, back to main stem. Remove any crossing shoots that may damage another stem by rubbing. Main stems shorten to suitably-placed buds and shoots, laterals cut back to a healthy bud.

R. Moyesii. Species

Species: Completely remove 1 or 2 old,very woody stems to the base. Remove all dead,damaged diseased wood. Remove all week stems. Remove all crossing stems that are likely to rub. Shorten all laterals to a side shoot or bud 5 -15cm from the main stem.

Old Garden Roses: Alba, Bourbon, China, Damask, Gallica, Mose, Portland, Provence Roses are all pruned the same way.

R. Great Maidens blush. Alba

Remove all dead, damaged and diseased wood cutting back to healthy growth or cutting to the ground. Remove any stems that are rubbing. Cut back the main stems by about 1/3^rd . Reduce laterals by about 1/3^rd to a strong healthy outward facing bud. Remove all low arching stems that will touch the ground.

R. Madame isaac pereire. Bourbon

R. cecile brunner.China

R. Madam Hardy.Damask

R. Tricolore-de-flandre-Gallica

R. William Lobb. Mose

R. Jacques Roses. Portland

R. The Bishop. Provence

New English Shrub and Rugosa

R. Penelope.New English shrub

Are pruned the same way.

R. Rugosa alba. Rugosa

Remove all dead, damaged, diseased and rubbing growth back to healthy wood. When growth becomes crowded remove 1 or 2 of the older stems that have become unproductive down to the base. To maintain a compact habit and encourage good flowering tip prune a proportion of the side shoots on the outer edges of the plant.

R. Pink bells .Groundcover

Ground Cover: These roses live up to their name with vigorous spreading habit, with side stems arching and hitting the ground, rooting and marching ever onwards so little pruning is required apart from ‘crowd control’ and removing any dead or diseased wood to healthy growth and pruning back hard to the base any stems heading skywards.

All this hard and very thorny work will give you healthy and free flowing plants that will look and smell wonderful come peak rose flowering season in June. If it is all sounding a bit too much like hard work, then I know a woman who can help you out! Give me a ring now on Tel:01273 470753 to book your January/February rose pruning session in.

Roses at David Austin garden-and-plant-centre

The Wonders of Wisteria

Varieties and maintenance.

June brings the sight of one of the most beautiful and dramatic of climbers, the Wisteria. The side of a building or a large tree dripping in the long racemes of light mauve flowers is a glorious opener to the summer flowering season. This is a mighty plant in many respects not only dose it put on a brilliant vibrant show it has a formidable growing habit. This climber is no shrinking violet even if it has lightly perfumed show stopper flowers. This climber comes from the foothills of mountains in Japan and China and in it’s native habitat scrambles up trees on the edge of forest margins to reach the light. So a 6ft garden fence or some dominative ornamental arch you have brought from the garden centre will not be a good home for this mighty beast.

Varieties: Wisteria sinensis, from China and perhaps the most planted Wisteria in Britain vigorous growth habit reaching 18 to 30m in height, with racemes up to 30cm long, flowering May-June. Two good varieties are W.sinensis ‘Black Dragon’ with dark purple flowers.

Wisteria sinsensis ‘Black Dragon’

W.sinensis ‘Plena’ with delicate double flowers of soft lilac.

Wistia sinensis ‘Plena’

Wisteria floribunda, from Japan, flowers with the leaves in May-June. A less vigorous plant reaching heights of 4m.

W.floribunda ‘Alba’, normally flowers earlier than it’s purple counter part, trusses of white flowers with a mauve tinge 45 to 60cm in length.

Wisteria floribunda ‘Alba’

W. floribunda ‘Macrobotrys’, this is the ‘big daddy’ of the wisteria world and if you have the room to really show off it’s 1m long flower trusses to the for in the form of a very large pergola with a sturdy lattice work for this big beast to scramble over. So the 1m long flowers can hang in a dramatic purple curtain down through the frame work, for you to walk under and enjoy. Then this surely is the Wisteria for you. That or the side of a very large building indeed.

Wisteria floribunda ‘Macrobotrys’

Wisteria care: Now there is a lot said about pruning of wisterias and a lot of mystic surrounds it to. So I am going to try to give some good basics to get you started in the right direction.

A new wisteria: training it on a wired wall.

A) Pruning on planting

1) Cut back the leader to a strong bud approx. 75-90cm above ground level,taking care not to cut below the graft union on grafted cultivators.

2) Remove any existing laterals to stimulate a strong leading shoot.

B) 1^st year summer

1) tie in the leading shoot vertically.

2) Select 2 strong laterals and tie them in at 45. angles. Prune any side shoots to about 15cm or to 3 or 4 buds, to begin the formation of flowering spurs.

30 Surplus laterals can be removed.

C) 2^nd Year winter

1) Cut back the leading shoot to about 75cm above topmost of the laterals.

2) Lower the pair of laterals and tie into the lowest horizontal wires. Prune them back by approx. 1/3 of their length, to strong ripe growth.

D) 2^nd Year summer

1) Continue to tie in the leading shoot.

2) Select the next pair of strong laterals and tie them in at 45. angle.

3) Remove unwanted growth at the base or form the main stem, cutting out completely to it’s point of origin.

4) Tie in the new leading shoot of each lateral, and spur-prune any side shoots back to about 15cm or 3 to 4 buds.

E) 3^rd Year winter

1) Cut back the leading shoot to about 75cm above the highest laterals.

2)Lower the topmost laterals and tie in to the nearest horizontal wire.

3) Prune all laterals back by 1/3 to strong growth.

F) Pruning an established Wisteria summer.

1) Continue to tie in the main lateral growths and cut them back when allotted space has been covered.

2) About 2 months after flowering (August), cut back laterals and side shoots to with in 5 to 6 buds,or 15cm of a main branch.

G) Pruning an Established Wisteria winter.

1) Once plant is well established then the planting can and ties can be removed.

2) Cut back the laterals and side shoots pruned in the summer to with in 2 or 3 buds of their base. These will bear the coming seasons flowers.

3) Remove wispy late summer growth made after the summer prune.

4) There should now be several tiers of laterals tied in horizontally.

PLEASE NOTE: these are general guide lines only.

A wisteria in full flower really is a wonder to behold if all this pruning is sounding like hard work and a bit time consuming and complicated and you have a large well established Wisteria that needs some serious TLC and need someone to give you a hand then I know a woman who can. Give me a ring tel:01273 470753. So I can come and help.

Winter pruning of mature Apple and Pear trees

Those that are not in the know, seem to think that as the leaves are off the trees and the garden is ‘asleep’ there is nothing more to be done other than putting your feet up in front of a fire and enjoying a seasonal tipple and waiting for the grass to grow in the Spring. How wrong they are, there are lots of January jobs in the garden and one of those is the pruning of top fruit.

Particularly if you have an older tree, this is essential to keep the tree in good health removing diseased stems and branches. keeping a nice open crown to help prevent the build up of pests and diseases. Also to keep your tree with in the size you want for picking and most importantly of all to rein in all that strong growth and get your fruit tree thinking about producing fruit instead.

pruning a mature pear tree

Choose a dry day if at all possible, particularly if you are venturing off the step ladder and up into the crown. Arm yourself with a good pair of secateurs and loppers, pruning saw and long armed pruner for the more out of reach sections.

1) start off on the ground, remove any vertical growth coming up from ground level,next to the main trunk. Remove any lower branches that are going to be in the way of mowing or will have the apples/pears lying on the grass.

2) Walk round the tree, look at it’s shape decide if there are areas that need the crown ‘pulling in’ to reduce the over all size and improve it’s shape.

3) All pruning whether a tiny twig on the top of the tree of a branch, must be taken back to either the bud with a slight sloping cut, or back to a branch joint. NOT cut halfway a long a branch, enabling die back and an unsightly stump. So with bigger branches make your decisions carefully.

careful pruning

4) Work from the ground up into the tree, using good strong step ladders where needed ( if the ground is uneven then it is essential to enlist a ‘ladder holder’ with a firm foot on the bottom rung) Always make sure the ladder is stable before going up it and never stand higher than the top rung or lean out to get that last little bit how ever tempting! Most ladders come with instructions, use them!

5) Remove all damaged and diseased wood including apple canker. Remove any rotting old fruits that are left on the tree how ever small.

removing a branch with apple canker

6) Reducing last seasons growth, your tree at this time of year may have a vertical hair style of straight stems, these need to be reduced down to 2 or 3 buds in length back to the main network of the tree, this will help encourage your tree into fruiting.

7) Once pruned then it is worth helping your fruit tree into the next growing season, Codling moth larvae is the enemy of the Apple tree grower, with perfect fruit being cut into to show a rotten eaten core centre, but putting grease bands round the lower trunk of the tree, just above grass level should help to reduce their impact. Also spraying with winter cold tar wash, the new version dose not have tar in and it is approved by the soil association for organic growers, it helps to kill off some of the pests and disease that are over wintering on the branches. Use as per manufactures instructions with full protective clothing including suit, gloves and most importantly a face visor, for spraying higher branches. Only spray on still days and it must dry before a frost. It is also good to clear vegetation if possible from under the tree and mulch well to help with moisture levels in the summer months.

The RHS book, Pruning and Training by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce, is a good practical guide with photos and illustrations to help you. However if this is all sounding rather daunting, and a little beyond your gardening skill, then never fear I know a woman who can, give me a ring 01273 470753 and let me carry out your fruit tree pruning for you.

Arcadia Garden Design

Creating beautiful gardens in Brighton and Sussex since 1995

Tag Archives: Pruning

Winter Rose Prunning

The Wonders of Wisteria

Winter pruning of mature Apple and Pear trees