I purchased these three rosebushes in June. They have produced an incredible abundance of large beautiful roses with new buds still coming on. They are also my first roses I have planted at my home. As you can see, they have singular branches that need pruning. It is still 72 degrees in Oklahoma Zone 7a during daytime, but it may frost tomorrow night. Since this is their first winter, is it safe to prune? If not, when should I prune? Also, one of the three bushes has much smaller leaves than the other two and the rose stems are very tiny, should I do something to remedy that. Photos attached. Any advice for a newby would be appreciated.
I would just let them be until spring. Spring is the best time to do hard pruning. If you're concerned about those tall branches over the winter just stake and tie them so they don't blow in the wind.
Do you know the names of the roses you bought? All varieties are different and that may just be natural growth for the smaller one. If it is considerably smaller it may be a miniature rose but without knowing the names it's hard to say.
They all look quite healthy and happy so I wouldn't worry.
OK, then there has to be some difference in the growing culture around the smaller one. Something that is causing it to perform in a different manner from the other two. More or less sun or water, different soil content, anything that would affect the growth. A wide view picture of the three together indicating which one is different would help.
seilMI, this is the wider pic. The roses are about 5 feet apart. They all face north, and the one with the smaller foliage is on the east end of the house.
Merdena said:seilMI, this is the wider pic. The roses are about 5 feet apart. They all face north, and the one with the smaller foliage is on the east end of the house.
I have never fertilized because I didn't know if it was appropriate. I just bought them in June. I have never done anything except plant them and water and deadhead faded blooms.
OK, so it's the one on the corner. That one would definitely get more wind exposure. It will also get more sun because it gets exposure from both sides of the house. How close is that bush around the corner and what is it? Have you seen blooms on all three and do they match? If so all I can think is that it is just a weaker plant. Sometimes that happens. You just get a weaker plant or graft and it never preforms up to snuff. Of it could just take longer to settle in and mature and then take off. All roses are not created equal.
No, I wouldn't. You already have mulch in the bed so they should be fine. Wait until early spring to do any pruning and since these are new young plants I would only prune back any dead wood at that time. Let them grow and get better established before doing any hard pruning. You will be able to see in the spring what cane has lived and what has died from the winter. Just take off the dead wood and then stand back and look at the shape of the bush to see if it needs any fine tuning in the shape. In cold climates winter often determines how much pruning a rose needs. Since these are shrub roses and not exhibition hybrid teas you don't really need to cut them way down to 6 or 8 inches. You want them to grow bushy and fill out and get some size. So just take off what's dead stuff and let them fill out some. If and when they start to get too big then you can do a more severe pruning. But that may take a few years yet depending on how vigorous that variety of rose is.
