Those who have a garden and like to maintain it will know that certain tasks are best completed in certain months.
British horticulturist Monty Don told gardening enthusiasts the jobs they should be completing in February, including pruning roses.
Pruning is an essential part of creating and maintaining a garden, for both controlling the shape of a plant and encouraging new growth.
According to Monty, there are several pruning jobs that can be completed in February if you live in the south of the UK. However, these tasks can be delayed until well into March for those living further north or who do not have time this month. Those who live in the south and have some time on their hands should look into pruning their roses now.
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'There is a lot of mystique about rose pruning, whereas the reality is that they are all tough shrubs that can take a mauling'
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The gardening expert said: "There is a lot of mystique about rose pruning, whereas the reality is that they are all tough shrubs that can take a mauling by anything from secateurs to a flail cutter and bounce back."
There are different types of roses and their individual properties should be taken into consideration.
Hybrid teas, floribunda and Hybrid perpetuals
These flower on the current season’s wood and should be pruned thoroughly every spring.
Gardeners should remove stems that cross, then weak and damaged ones. Prune the rest of the stems to create an open bowl of stubby branches. Always cut just above a bud. Growth which is the weakest should be cut hardest.
Shrub roses
Gardeners don't need to worry about these too much as they don't require much pruning at all. Monty shared that a once-over with a hedge trimmer can be effective.
The gardening expert prunes his shrub roses in the winter and in early spring by removing very long growth or damaged or crossed branches.
Monty suggested that this task does not actually have to be completed in February, as there's a strong case for doing this in late summer or early autumn.
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There are different variations of roses: Hybrid teas, floribunda and Hybrid perpetuals, shrub roses, climbing roses and ramblers
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Climbing Roses
These can be divided into two groups, True Climbers and Ramblers.
True climbers
These typically have single, large flowers from early summer into autumn. Some include ‘New Dawn’, ‘Albertine’ and ‘Dorothy Perkins’.
True Climbers should be pruned in the autumn or winter, and gardeners should strive to keep a framework of long stems trained sideways with branches breaking away from them.
Side branches carry the flowers on new growth, which you should expect in spring. One-third of the plant should be taken off every year. Focus on removing the oldest, woodiest stems, as this promotes renewal.
Ramblers
These have bunches of smaller flowers just once during the middle of summer. These include ‘Bobbie James’, ‘Rambling Rector,’ ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’ and ‘Wickwar’. Ramblers don't need much pruning but should be trained and trimmed straight away once they have been flowered.
