Rose Pruning chez Saskia

Today I’ve started pruning my roses. I always start in February as I’ve quite a few to prune – altogether 48 roses. The ones that give the most work are the ground cover roses – they are very prickly and go all over the place. I try to cut out the branches that cross, shorten them and weed between them as once the leaves are on it is very difficult to trace where the weeds originate from. I made the mistake the second year after planting to add a layer of soil between these roses. It was so called ‘good soil’, it came in a lorry load and in fact looked like just ordinary clay soil that they dug up from a field. With the consequence that I’ve introduced all sorts of weeds like bindweed that really normally are not a problem in this area. Now I'm stuck with it !

After pruning I give them a generous layer of manure : about two large French breakfast cups of manure per rose and try to mix it with the existing soil. Then they are sprayed with Bouillie Bordelaise, which I repeat when the new young leaves appear on the branches.

I’m always looking out for bargains where manure and fertilizer are concerned. Today I found horse manure at the Intermarché in Barjols very reasonably priced, just 4.90€ for 20 kilo. One bag was sufficient for 10 roses and 4 fruit trees.



The photo shows the yellow Rosa banksia, Dutch irises (Iris x hollandica) and white flowering ground cover roses.

Saskia