Houston Rose Society member, had (right) arm surgery just before usual pruning date of Valentine’s Day week and have been out of action 6 weeks, and told I need another 6 weeks before I can resume normal use of my arm.
Was and still am unable to prune or even trim and using my left arm is an issue – awkward and (left) shoulder and wrist awaiting treatment/surgery.
Soo… my 42 rose plants look terrible. Deer are keeping them trimmed and I am still unable to spray repellant for now. Landscape helpers have no idea how to prune and too busy to take on learning right now. Pretty far out rural.
Any advice? What to do (or not do) after I regain use of my arm?
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Sometimes I get so busy that I do not prune my roses. They will survive . Even though you have ugly looking roses, when you are able to get out and prune, just clean them up by removing the bad leaves and trim them back gently as you would if you were deadheading. They will bounce back and surprise you. Karen Anne McCann
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Thanks so much for the encouragement!
Glad I could help. KarenAnne
Your roses will survive. When this happens, wait until after the first bloom and then cut a little bit down lower on your bush than you usually would after deadheading.
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Ok. It will probably be after 2nd bloom when my arm is healed (Dr is expecting that by the end of May). I’ll give that a try. Thanks
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Something similar happened to me last year. I didn’t prune until September. The fall bloom was not great. After pruning this past February, I had the best spring bloom ever. So don’t worry. Your roses will be fine.
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I hope you’re recovering well. This is why I planned my total knee replacement around my 200+ roses!
I agree with the rest of your responses here- they’ll make it and might even survive the winter better because you didn’t trim (though I claim no scientific evidence for that assumption). Make your PT and recovery a priority, do what you can, and you’re right not to trust the landscapers!
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We all have times when we can’t prune at the usual time. Pruning late is better than not pruning at all. In your location and by the time your arm is healed and able to handle pruning duties, it will be too warm to prune as usual. I agree with the others, give your roses a good summer trim, a good clean up and some TLC- like fertilizer- and you will probably have wonderful roses this fall. Don’t give up, roses are tough survivors! Here is picture of my rose garden one May ( yes MAY) when i did not prune in February/March like I usually do. That is one messy rose garden. Eventually I got them trimmed/pruned and got out all the weeds. Roses are tough. Hope your arm is recovering nicely.
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One of the greatest rosarians I have ever known, A.J. “Pop” Warner (Golden Triangle Rose Society), once said, Roses usually grow well in spite of what we do, or not do to them.
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Had no idea ‘Pop’ was a rose fan. I guess I learned that some time ago and just forgot about it. My mother-in-law saw a nice rose I had planted at my house in Katy Tx and asked me to get her one. At the time it was named Old Katy Road, a ‘found’ rose. It was later determined by experts that this was actually Carefree Beauty - a Buck rose. I bought her one and planted it at her home near Hot Springs, Arkansas at Southeast the corner of her carport as requested. She did no pruning, fertilizing, etc. and only very occasional watering. Within a few years it was taller than the carport and had a base diameter of over 6 inches… and was producing wonderfully abundant blooms all season.
Pop was one of the founders of the GTRS.
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