Well, we waited all these months and winter never really arrived. In all my years, I have never seen such a mild winter. The ground never really froze at all, and that is unheard of with no snow cover in my neighborhood here in the state of Connecticut. Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and the forsythia in my neck of the woods began to bloom last week. In the rose world, we treat forsythia as a bell-weather…when it pops our season generally begins.

Roses After Winter

A lot of rosarians I know are concerned about removing winter protection and starting to prune because it is only March 19th. This same problem raised its head in the spring of 2010. March was very mild and April was hot. Everything exploded into rapid growth, and for those that put off their spring fine pruning, it became a difficult task because the growth was so dramatic.

After growing roses for over 30 years, I think it is better to listen to your roses than it is to look at the calendar and worry. All the roses in my garden are growing. They don’t care that it is the last day of winter! I began my spring pruning last week. You will want to remove any mulch or soil that you mounded up late last fall for winter protection. Gently wiggle the stuff around with a short bamboo stake taking care not to knock off any new basal breaks coming up from the bud union.

How to Pruning

So, how do you accomplish this pruning? Start with nice, sharp bypass pruners. Shoot for canes that are at least the diameter of a pencil or larger…remember that small canes are going to produce smaller canes. I like to cut off any weak or insignificant growth. Trim it off right up close to a larger cane. Prune out any canes that are crossing. Rose prickles can injure our roses just as they can injure us!

Try to open up the center of the rosebush to increase air circulation and thereby hold fungus diseases at bay. Cut back the larger canes to an outward facing bud. That way, the new cane that comes from that bud will grow away from the center of the rosebush. When you are finished with your trimming, seal up the ends of your canes with some Elmer’s Glue. The regular stuff: you don’t need wood glue, and don’t use school glue because it will wash off with the rains. Elmer’s dries clear and hard and cane borers will not be able to drill through it.

Plant Care

I started watering last week because we have had a shortage of precipitation this winter, and when roses start growing they need a lot of water to get off to a good start. They always love a good drink! After you’ve finished pruning and watering, if you had a problem with black spot last fall, you may want to do a spraying with Mancozeb. This is a fungicide that kills black spot spores, so it will help your roses to get off to a good start. Then sit back and wait.

Don’t apply any fertilizer yet. We want to wait until the soil warms up; the plant food won’t become available to the root system of the plant until the soil temperature is more than 50 degrees.

Take advantage of this extra time. Even if we get a snowstorm now, the days are longer, the sun is stronger, and the soil is unusually warm already. Listen to your roses speaking to you.