IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VIII. 

 No. 85 



Edited by C F Ball 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



MARCH 

 '9'3 



Rose Pruning* 



By T. F. CROZrKR, Avonmore, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin. 



With the exception of the actual 

 planting of the Rose Tree, pruning 

 is, without doubt, the most impor- 

 tant work that has to be carried out 

 in the Rose garden throughout the 

 entire year. Not only is it the most 

 important, but it is also the most 

 difficult. Pruning is an art. Hard 

 and fast rules may, and are, usually 

 laid down, but every individual 

 plant must be studied, and consider- 

 able thought given before ever you 

 touch it. Pruning is the art of 

 improving the productive power and 

 the appearance of the Rose plant, 

 and consists of two distinct opera- 

 tions — (1) the removal of all dead 

 and unripe wood and useless twiggy 

 growth ; (2) the shortening back 

 of those growths which will be 

 allowed to remain, and which will 

 provide the blooms for the coming 

 season. 



I propose to touch lightly on 

 three heads in this article : — 



( 1 ) The time to prune. 



(2) The implements to use. 



(3) The manner in which the various 



varieties of Roses should be pruned. 



As to No. 1. the Hybrid Perpetuals and 

 Hybrid Teas should be pruned about the end 

 of March, but one must be guided by the seasons. 

 Personally, I prefer late to early pruning. In 

 past years, late frosts at the end of April and in 

 May have become very prevalent, and if you 

 prune most of your Roses about the middle of 

 March it is heart-breaking to find the long 

 shoots being destroyed by these late frosts. I 



generally prune my Hybrid Perpetuals and 

 Hybrid Teas the very last week in March. 

 unless it has been an abnormally open and mild 

 season. The Teas are better left alone till the 

 first, or even the second, week in April. 



Climbing Roses, such as the Multiflora and 

 Wichuriana varieties, should have been pruned 

 after flowering last September, and in January 

 or February they should have been gone over 

 again and dead shoots cut off and generally 

 trimmed. 



As to No. 2 — namely, the implements to use. 

 Personally, I would advise all amateurs — for 1 

 am not directing these remarks to experts and 

 exhibitors — to use both the knife and the 

 secateur. 



The secateurs have their own advantages, the 

 work can be done more quickly, less damage is 

 done to your hands, and dead shoots and thick 

 ones can be much more easily cut through. It 

 is easier also to work in the centre of a bush with 

 a long-handled secateur than a knife. I should 

 therefore advise the amateur to thin out all 

 dead wood with the secateur, and any very thick 

 heavy shoots that have to be pruned I would 

 prefer to use the secateur or a short pruning 

 saw. I would then keep the knife for the out- 

 side shoots, which are to provide the season's 

 blooms. But, whichever instrument is used, be 

 careful to see that it is sharp, and kept so. A 

 kneeling pad and thick dog-skin gloves will 

 complete the primer's outfit. 



As to No. 3 — the actual pruning — I shall make 

 first a few general remarks, then briefly touch on 

 the pruning of the varieties of Roses that are 

 chiefly grown. 



First and foremost, I strongly recommend 

 everybody, be he exhibitor or not. to go in for 

 hard pruning. This direction is subject to 



