Roses confused by the weather

[Becky]

The weird weather over the past few months has confused my roses!

I usually do the hard prune on my standard roses in March, once the frosts have died down. Usually there is hardly any new growth on them by that point. However this year they are confused. With all the mild weather we had over winter, they have started sprouting new growth already. We are having daily frosts at the moment, so I don't want to prune them back until the temperatures are a little higher. However, I'm concerned that they are putting a lot of energy into new growth which I am going to remove. So consequently I feel like I have no option but to sit back and do nothing, and hope for the best!

Has anyone else been noticing this with their roses this year? What approach are you taking?

 

[marlingardener]

Our roses don't ever go quite dormant in our mild winters. In fact, they bloom in December and January!
I usually prune after a hard frost or two. This winter has been unusually mild, so I am pruning now and after the (theoretical) last frost date, I'll give them a good fertilizing.
Your plan to leave well enough alone and prune later sounds good to me!

 

[Becky]

Our roses don't ever go quite dormant in our mild winters. In fact, they bloom in December and January!
I usually prune after a hard frost or two. This winter has been unusually mild, so I am pruning now and after the (theoretical) last frost date, I'll give them a good fertilizing.
Your plan to leave well enough alone and prune later sounds good to me!

That certainly reassures me!

 

[granjera]

I'm a little north of malingardener, it seems. Normally, the roses bloom in May or June and kind of go dormant in the hot months, but then once the nights get cooler in September, they come back to life with their last bloom. And all's over by early December. Sometime in January, my neighbor's roses fully bloomed.

I've had a sniffly nose all "winter". I didn't sniffle this much in all of Spring, Summer, or Fall of last year!

We are out of whack.

 

[Daren]

I'm always nasty to my roses I prune them quite Early ....like just before Christmas. Just to get them back for all the times they attack me but Any time from December- march is fine in my book. I'm just nasty to them its a personal thing!

 

[Becky]

Just to get them back for all the times they attack me

Haha I like your thinking!

I really want to prune mine now but I think it would be too much of a risk with the night-time temperatures. Wish I'd cut them back when it was mild!

 

[Sheal]

Rarely getting frost here I usually prune mine mid February but because of this mild, wet and windy winter I've not had a chance to get out there......hopefully next week. A few of my roses have lengthy shoots too and it seems a shame to prune those off but it won't do any harm to the plants.

@Becky, if you feel the need to prune them now but are worried about frost you could cover them with fleece on those days that it's forecast until the pruned stems have healed over.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

This has been a crazy year, its not been really cold enough to put my roses to sleep but not warm enough for the to do much growing, I checked them today and I'll have to do some trimming with in the next week or so before it starts to warm up more. The peony are starting to peek out of the ground so I know its time to start on the roses.

 

[Corzhens]

Speaking of weird weather, our sugar apple that usually bear fruit during the months of July to October is already fruiting. The cashew seemed early with the flowers where it used to appear by early April. Even our fallen mango tree has some fruits. I don't know if it is the fertilizer but I guess it is the season that is out of timing. We have pictures of the usual fruiting so we know the time the flowers should appear. By the way, we have a drought here that may last for the entire year according to the forecast of the weather bureau.

 

[Becky]

By the way, we have a drought here that may last for the entire year according to the forecast of the weather bureau.

Oh my goodness, that doesn't sound good! Does that happen often in your part of the world?

 

[Greenhorn]

"Season Confusion"
This is what we call it when the weather patterns change enough to have a noticeable effect on plants.

Here winter is not much so roses can easily grow year round really, always a little seasonal confusion going on. That said they (my roses) are still at there slowest point in Feb, about the mid point of our winter. I took mine down to abut 5 to 7 canes about 1' tall a couple weeks ago. I always trim any foliage off to ensure energy goes to bud production and always clean up clippings and old leaves in bed, they can sometimes have mold or rust that will come back.

 

[Bethany]

I pruned my roses back in December after the ends started to get really crispy. They are definitely coming back, I see lots of leaf buds and there's even a little flower budding on one of the bushes. I've been wondering if I should start watering them. We've been having 60 and 70 degree days for several weeks.

 

[Daren]

Bethany water In the Evening before the Sun go's down is best time if you want the water to be of most beneficial to the roses

 

[Greenhorn]

Also when watering roses try not to get too much water on the foliage, water the dirt around the base preferably. I had a terrible time with rust due to too much foliage water. Once I had the rust cleanup up I set my rose up on drip.

 

[Bethany]

Also when watering roses try not to get too much water on the foliage, water the dirt around the base preferably. I had a terrible time with rust due to too much foliage water. Once I had the rust cleanup up I set my rose up on drip.

Thanks for the tip!! I usually water with a soaker attachment on my hose so I'll be sure to avoid the leaves when I water.