# Are these roses doomed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067 "2007-01-07T18:20:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/1 "2007-01-07T18:20:39Z")
I’ve got some pretty big rose bushes in my side yard. When I moved in, they were overgrown and weedy and had obviously been neglected, but I cut them back as well as I could and I was hoping that they would bloom nicely this summer. The past couple of weeks, it’s gotten up into the 50s, though, and they’re producing green shoots, and even some small red buds. Should I cut these off? When the snow comes (and it will come), is it going to damage the plants? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/2 "2007-01-07T19:04:32Z")
I’ve had roses blooming well into December in previous years. I just let them get on with it and cut them back quite hard in the spring. They are still going strong. I don’t see a problem with using this technique wherever you happen to be. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/3 "2007-01-07T19:44:53Z")
Nope, it won’t hurt them to let them go. If the cold, when it comes, kills the new growth, no biggie – cut off anything dead (and you really can tell – it’s dark brown and dead looking) when spring really does come (Marchish). ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/4 "2007-01-07T20:16:25Z")
**twickster** do you really just remove the dead growth? I tend to cut the stems back to one or two nodes from the base, dead or not, and the roses bloom pretty well. Someone once told me (probably in the pub) that these plants should be pruned mercilessly and I have had much success with this technique. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/5 "2007-01-07T20:42:05Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] **twickster** do you really just remove the dead growth? I tend to cut the stems back to one or two nodes from the base, dead or not, and the roses bloom pretty well. Someone once told me (probably in the pub) that these plants should be pruned mercilessly and I have had much success with this technique. [/QUOTE] **saoirse** said that (s)he cut them back before winter started already, so at this point all that needs to be done in spring is getting rid of the dead stuff. It depends on the rose, too…some varieties need to be pruned and shaped carefully, but some (especially “climbers”) should be cut back to nodes as close to the ground as possible…my mother’s house has a climber, and if we didn’t cut it back severely every year, the house would look like Sleeping Beauty’s castle with the impenetrable thorn wall… ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/6 "2007-01-07T20:57:47Z")
Understood. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-roses-doomed/387067/7 "2007-01-08T01:10:25Z")
Well, I’ll just let them go for now, then. I haven’t seen them in bloom, so I’m not sure what they’re going to look like, but I pruned them pretty drastically (and also removed a couple cubic feet of weeds and small maple trees from their bed) so I’ll wait and see what comes out when the snows melt. Thanks to everyone.