Don't prune a "first year Austin" unless it is bigger now than you want it to get. It needs all that green to produce a good root base. Remember that all of its roots got cut off from wherever it was growing to get it to you. It takes a season or two or three just to get back to where it was.

Also, I don't think leaving them bigger is so much a "new" theory on pruning roses. It has always been one of many options. The basic formula is that if you want "more" roses, leave lots of canes and you will get more, but smaller roses. If you want the plant to push just a spectacular bloom or four in the first blooming period, then cut more off. It has always been a trade off between quantity and quality, especially for plants that are still young'ens. The roots and soil only have so much to give. After the first blooming cycle the method of pruning won't matter much. The quantity/quality of blooms is much more dependent then on the amount of food you give them to eat. Lots of food = lots of growth and good quality blooms.

Lady Emma I just take off the very twiggy tips and clear out any dead wood. Lady Emma forms a shrubby shape eventually without much attention. It is truly a "shrub" rose.

Sure. What's right for one Austin rose is probably wrong for some others. In my particular coastal area, they do better if "pruning" consists mostly of a rather firm deadheading.

It also makes a difference whether you have a budded plant, or one growing on its own roots.

But first-year plants, it's safest to err on the side of caution, and remove very little.

Jeri

Ok thanks! I'll go for more blooms and less pruning!!! Can't wait to see what Lady Emma does this year...it is such a gorgeous rose!

Just mulch well and water well. Most DA roses bloom best with plenty of water.