Rose Cuttings: February 2014
At the end of the growing season a rose like this Zephirine Drouhin climber may need some taming. February is the month for careful training, thinning and pruning of roses (below). Photos courtesy of Mike Shoup, Antique Rose Emporium.
by Mike Shoup
Time to Prune
February is a great month to prune your roses in Texas. Take time to shape and reduce shrubs so that they are in proper scale with the garden in which they reside. If you have to, you can cut rose bushes back by half, and climbers can be thinned so that all remaining canes are tightly trained on the structures they adorn. Any excessive or unruly canes that cannot be trained should be removed.
As a bonus, all removed canes can be added to your compost pile or, better yet, used as flavoring for your next barbecue. Yes, rose canes make wonderful wood for smoking meat in the barbecue pit. Soak brown canes and place them near the charcoal so that they’ll burn slowly and impart a fruity flavor to meats like lamb, chicken or pork. Now there’s another reason to love roses!