Pink spots on a rose is a fungal disease called Botrytis. Simply point out the facts with diplomacy, something like, "That's interesting! I have read several places that say..."

Here is a link that might be useful: botrytis on roses article.

I have never heard that pruning advice before. General advice could be to prune out 1/3 of the OLDEST canes in any given year to promote new basal growth. And even that's usually reserved for climbers and maybe really big OGRs. But then a lot of those really resent any hard pruning so it's not a rule for every rose. Heck if I did what your uncle suggests I'd be left with all one cane wonders!

As for the other lady you probably did the best thing. Anything you said to her might have ticked her off. If you really want to try and educate her send her an email with a link to a good hybridizing site that will explain pollination to her. It's better coming from the web than from you if you want to keep her friendship.

I got a giggle out of the "rose expert" that pruned my bosses roses....he cuts out all the new canes and leaves only the oldest ones. The woodier the better I guess...only those roses bloom hard for months and at 4 feet tall so guess his method is working too.

It's hard to keep a lid on it when people give such goofy tips eh?
These stories also make me think of that video that was making everyone howl a while back!
"How to Prune a Rose the Easy Way" where the video guy takes a pole hedger to them and saws an entire bed down to 18 inches in about 30 seconds. hahahaha.

.. if you missed it- see below

Here is a link that might be useful: a crazy way to prune (shred) your roses

This post was edited by lola-lemon on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 1:07

I've heard of people who use hedge trimmers on Knock Outs with no problems but on anything else I'd cringe, lol! In my opinion we do way more pruning than we really need to. I've started pruning much less and found the roses seem to be happier.

feh - we all do that in england - whack 'em back with hedgetrimmers, that is. Our municiple council uses a flail mower with a huge side attachment to 'prune' out all the verge roses - mostly Bonica, Kent. Sommerwind and Fairy roses....so not that surprising.
I, myself, have used a chainsaw on various roses which have gone over the top - in our climate, it takes more than a vicious cutting back to actually kill them.

I have a number of minis that I grow in pots & I lop them back once each summer with hedges shears. I think that a lot of the new shrub roses could be pruned this way.

the guy has such a devilish attitude while he does it though....

Actually, yes, i know several of my neighbors who plant hedges of hybrid teas at 15 inches apart and they clearly are using a hedge trimmer to cut them back-- it makes a perfectly flat top each fall. If you just want it topped, then it's perfect.

I think one would want to be sure to have sharp trimmers though.

I think the main thing that had me scratching my head was "cut out the old stuff to feed the roots". How would that feed the roots???

Grace e

Me too. I often use hedge trimmers or a chain saw. For the more stubborn roses, I find tying dynamite to the branches works best.