rose pruning
 

Someone told me to prune my roses now (late February) down to about 8 inches. Is this something I should be doing?

How about Crape (Crepe) Myrtle? Is this the time to cut them back. When do I plant Impatiens?

In CA we cut the roses down near Super Bowl time (early Feb)


This article may or may not help (didn't do me much good)


Pruning Roses - How and When to Prune Your Rose Bushes


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They have a great Rose Club that can really tell you about Roses in Florida. In NH, I used to trim to the branch with 5 leaves after roses bloomed.:wave:

I have the knock out roses and I cut them all the way back down to like 6 to 8 inches. They come back just beautiful and stronger...

I didn't think Impatiens would survive in the Florida heat. Up north, they are very unhappy by July unless it is morning sun. Do they actually survive in the summer?

Since this is taking a gardening bent, could anyone tell me what the best way to mulch is? Does gravel do anything to help keep moisture in or what is everyone's experience?

Great info

When?


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Crepe Myrtles
 

Please do NOT trim or cut back your crape myrtles now, they are just budding up and getting ready to bloom. If you trim now you will lose any bloom forming. Wait until the fall, the leaves will be off the tree and you can get a good idea of how you would like your tree to look and trim appropriately. I have three, one is tulip shaped and grows straight up, one is a natural bushy shape and my favorite is a gorgeous spreading umbrella shaped Nachez, pure white.

Impatiens
 

Now is the time to start planting Impatiens. They are available year round here. There are various types, some for shade, some for partial shade and some for sun. Just read the label and get the right plant for the right exposure.

The gardening calendar published by the Master Gardeners(?) says to cut back the knockout roses on Valentine's Day. It's later than that by now and I'm having such a hard time getting up the nerve, as each one has dozens of blooms on it. When is it too late to do that?

QUESTION: DO you prune a "Rose Tree" the same way as a rose bush???? BY that I mean, cut back individual branches about 2-4 inches from the main trunk!

Pruning Rose Tree
 

This is a link to an E-How site on pruning tree roses. Different from pruning hybrid teas and it explains this in detail.

How to Prune a Rose Tree | eHow.com

Thanks..alot of good information at that site.

Videos
 

If you google " video prune knock out roses" a lot of videos come up. I'm more of a visual person. I like to actually see how someone does it.

Carla,
it's never too late for knockouts.... you won't kill the plant by pruning now. Knockouts never really go dormant here, so they do get tired.
I'd say you can surely take about one third off, maybe a little more. Just make sure there are green buds, new growth left when you are done.
Next year you can cut them way down if you like.

You will sacrifice some bloom for a few weeks, but if you feed them after about March 15th (last frost date) they should blossom again quickly.

I have used Bayer Advanced on my knockouts for years. Once a month, mixed in a bucket of water, poured around drip line of plant. Best time to do it is after they have had some irrigation or rain.
Also know that you can prune dead, damaged or unruly parts anytime.
Happy gardening!