Before I began growing roses, I knew Valentine's day as the day to plant potatoes (and some other vegetables). My father and grandfather would come in late from the fields, having planted all day long. It didn't matter if the day was warm or cold, they planted on Valentine's day.
I'm adding some new vegetable beds to my garden, so I'm going to be a little late planting my vegetables. But I've taken advantage of some of the warm days we've had lately to get a head start on pruning the roses. It's satisfying to study each individual rose and their structure. I feel I get to know my roses better every year because of it. Of course, some of my roses don't get pruned at all, some get pruned only lightly, and some I prune heavily. It depends upon the rose.
Since I know that the roses will start blooming approximately six weeks or so after pruning, Valentine's day indicates to me that it won't be long before my garden is full of blooms again! (The photos above were, of course, taken last year.)
Happy planting and pruning day! When is it time to prune the roses in your area?
Happy Valentines/pruning day to you too! I will prune my roses around March 1st. This year I have a big job....a heavy pruning for my Rugosa "Hansa". I have my super heavy/long gloves ready!! In your last photo the rose looks like is has an unusual edge. Is that something in the picture, or does it really look like that? It's really pretty!
ReplyDeleteChristy - that's raindrops on its edge! Like a string of pearls! :)
DeleteValentine's Day is rose pruning day here but I tend to take cues from the plants. It's been warm with tons of new growth the last few weeks and from the leaves I can tell I'd be cutting off blooms so only trimming where needed this year. I don't have that many because deer love them.
ReplyDeletePotato day, that's funny and I did not know that. My father-in-law was a potato farmer but in a much colder climate.
Climate makes all the difference, doesn't it? In roses as well as potatoes!
DeleteIt's so nice to realize you are so close to your lovely Roses blooming. Happy Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
Oh, Cher, I can't wait! :) Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's day!
DeleteJust 6 weeks to having your first roses! I am so envious. I find that I prune differently depending on the rose as well. Some roses don't like our cold winters and need to be pruned hard to recover. Happy Valentine's Day Holley!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's different for roses grown in colder climates than the ones here. We have to worry about them getting too big here, there you have to worry about cutting them down so low due to the cold!
DeleteHappy Valentine's Day! Our rule of thumb is President's Day for rose pruning but June is the month when we see the roses hit their full stride. There are always a few blooming before but the all-out rose parade waits for June and continues on and off through November or December.
ReplyDeletePresident's Day will be here soon! We start getting hot weather by the end of June, and most of my roses go dormant from the heat in July and some or most of August. So, a little different, but not much.
DeleteBonjour...je suis ravie d'avoir découvert votre blog. J'ai découvert votre passion pour les roses. En France, je vais tailler mes rosiers autour du 15 mars, pas avant il peut faire encore très froid.
ReplyDeleteBelle soirée jocelyne
Welcome! I'm so glad to have found your blog, too! I love finding other rose lovers!
DeleteHappy Valentines Day to you too!
ReplyDeleteAnd to you both! :)
DeleteHappy Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteI have only one rose...a Knockout. Lack of good sun, except in the deer infested areas, keeps me from having more.
I'll enjoy seeing your beauties, though.
That's one thing I have plenty of here - sun! My garden has a lack of shade!
DeleteHi Holley, Happy Valentine's Day to you and happy rose pruning! I share your experience that with pruning the roses each year you understand them better and better. It almost seems to be the case that over time roses are telling you how they would like to be pruned. Here in Southern California I start to prune my roses in the last week of December. Ideally I would be done by the end of January, but I am still pruning. It amazes me that you say you have new flowers six weeks after pruning. I don't know how long it will take exactly, but in my garden the roses need more then six weeks to produce the first flush of blooms after they got their hair cut.
ReplyDeleteChristina
I'm surprised it takes them so long. Perhaps after blooming all year long, they like to take a little break! :) I have had years that I prune over a long period, too. It all has to do with the amount of time we have to get out there in our gardens, and of course, some years are easier to find that time than others.
DeleteWe usally prune in January. This year it was towards the end of Jan. and i just supervised as hubby pruned the shrub roses. But I took control of the four climbers, since I think I finally understand how to prune them, thanks to Masha's blog at A Rose is a Rose! We won't have blooms until April and the best display is in May. Happy Valentine's Day to you!
ReplyDeleteSo nice that your husband helps! I don't think I would trust mine! ;) Our best display is usually the end of April. May is usually fine, unless it gets too hot too fast. Interesting, since you prune earlier than I do. Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's day!
DeleteHappy Valentine's Day, Holley. I pruned my roses a week ago, and I don't think they will flower 6 weeks after pruning, not with the weather we have had lately! Although today it was not too bad, but it has been very cold here so it's anybody's guess when first flush will come....late April or even May.
ReplyDeleteYour weather is much more rainy than ours. I suppose that makes a lot of difference. And, it was a nice warm day again today. I'm hoping we don't have any late surprise freezes!
DeleteI don't have many roses and the 2 I have that require pruning was done last week, for no other reason than I had time to do it! My climbers are new last year and don't need doing and my rambler flowers on old growth, so will sort that after flowering!
ReplyDeleteI associate Valentines Day with starting slug/snail control! Nothing as exciting as roses I'm afraid!
Yes, time is an important factor when deciding when to prune the roses! I'm surprised you have to start the slug control so early! They don't let you rest long, do they!?
DeleteHappy Valentines Day, Holley. No pruning happening here, we're getting another 4" of snow today. It makes me smile to think there are other gardeners who are already enjoying the great outdoors though. Nothing gets planted around here until June, that is, IF the snow is gone, lol.
ReplyDeleteWhat an appropriate day to think of roses!
I can not imagine having so much snow. I guess it's all whatever one gets used to. Of course, about the time you're starting to garden in earnest, I'm having to take a break - from our heat! Stay safe in all that snow!
DeletePruning? Amazing, Holley. We still have snow here. Happy Sweethearts Day!
ReplyDeleteFebruary does sound like more of a snowy month than a gardening month! I hope you're staying warm! Happy Valentine's day.
DeleteI love the story you told of your family planting on Valentine's Day! What a wonderful thing to have memories of your dad and grandfather doing that! Potatoes are the best from the garden aren't they??? Have fun pruning and planting lady and here's to a wonderful heart day!!! I always enjoy seeing your beautiful roses!!!
ReplyDeleteMy father has so many memories of planting things with his father (he was a farmer). Some of his memories are not very wonderful to him, I'm afraid. I think he decided farming was much too hard to do for a living. But he still always loved to garden and has always had one, even though it has shrunk over time.
DeleteCute roses.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm looking forward to seeing them again! :)
DeleteHappy valentines day Holly, not too much longer to wait for roses now. Ours are in resting mode with a flush due in autumn.
ReplyDeleteThat's how mine do. Rest in the middle of summer, then flush again in autumn. It's bittersweet to see them then - I know it won't be long then before they rest again for the winter.
DeleteGood question -- when it is time to prune roses here in zone 6? I thought of asking you that, but alas, you have asked that. Can I prune them though it is snowing outside? In which state, your father and grandfather used to farm? You must have had a lovely childhood then, playing on farms :-)?
ReplyDeleteMy family has lived in Texas for generations - back to before the Civil War. I didn't play on farms, but my dad grew up on one, and he would visit and help my grandfather out quite often. As to pruning your roses, no, don't prune them now while there's snow outside! If you have a forsythia, or know of one somewhere around, prune your roses when it starts blooming. I imagine that's going to be quite a bit later than here - March, probably. And be sure your roses are repeat bloomers - once-bloomers don't get pruned until after they bloom. Hope that helps you!
DeleteHappy Valentine's Day Holley. Nice of you to post the roses. I received roses from my husband today.
ReplyDeleteHow nice! I was taken out to lunch, to a movie, and then shopping for an upcoming anniversary present. It was a great day. I guess I'll prune and plant tomorrow! :)
DeleteAnd the same to you! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, must be nice to prune Roses in February! No, I won't be pruning Roses again until...June?! Yes, I think I will be spending lots of time in the south after I retire. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously? June? I hope you are talking about once-blooming roses, and that by then you have enjoyed loads of blooms off them!
Deletehappy valentines day! I am on a quest to find a way to have my roses bloom on valentines day (to save money!) but until global warming reaches us in the NW it won't be happening. I usually prune in april if weather permits. The rule of (possibly green) thumb is after danger of last frost because the plant will start to grow once you prune and if new growth freezes, that ain't good.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be nice if the roses would bloom in time for Valentine's! I think they actually do that in California! Lucky them!
DeleteI am looking forward to start pruning roses too, but we have to wait till March in our area. From March on when there is no frost or snow I am off to the garden.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be long now! March is just around the corner! :)
DeleteThanks for the reminder, Holley! In our area, we usually prune the roses when the forsythia blooms. As crazy as our weather has been lately, that will probably be soon. I'll have to keep an eye out.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
That is the standard rule for wherever one lives - when the forsythia blooms. I really need to add a forsythia bush to my garden, so I could rely upon it instead of a date. I think it would actually be much more accurate!
DeleteHappy Valentines' day to you, too! Hope it was a great one! :)
ReplyDeleteI am always a little baffled by pruning roses. I have mostly shrub roses and one rambler. Mostly I do light "clean up" pruning.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of shrub roses in my garden, too. And instead of ramblers, which find it too hot here, I have hybrid musks, noisettes, and other old roses that don't need or like to be pruned. Makes it much easier!
DeleteI need to learn about roses, having just inherited three shrub roses and a couple of ramblers! I am having to cut the ramblers hard back this year because we need to replace the fence, so no flowers until next year.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's a little sad. Our gardens really do teach us patience. I hope your shrub roses make up for it with an extra volume of blooms!
Deletewell, it used to be Valentine's Day for me, too. But then my one and only rose (a Knock Out, no less), got rose rosette disease so I had to get rid of it. I have been too spooked to get another. So sad, since I love roses!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so sorry that RRD has affected your garden! My garden so far has been spared. I'm worried, though, that it might hit my garden sometime in the future, and I would be devastated. I can't imagine what my garden would look like without my roses - it would be very bare.
DeleteHolley I am a little late getting around, but thank you for the lovely roses on Valentine's Day!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed them. I can't wait to see them again this year!
Delete