jerome, she'll be back and give you a great fall flush. My TG was on an umbrella trellis that had rusted and blew over in a storm. I literally had to cut the rose off what was left of the trellis. I had maybe 3 2 ft stumps left. Well, within a few weeks, there were over a dozen new canes and some were about 3 feet long. A year later, you would never know it was cut back.

Most roses love being cut. I am going to do a big prune on TG this winter. She does need to be tamed now and then.

A few years ago, Sharon van Enoo talked to the Ventura County Rose Society about Austin roses and the question of dealing with lanky and unproductive canes of roses like Teasing Georgia was brought up; she said the way to handle such Austins was to prune them severely and they would remward you with repeat bloom and new sturdier canes. FWIW. JimD

Thanks for the great feedback.

You will also have to tame Tea Clipper in late summer - it does not mind.

I pruned Bishop's Castle down to about one foot since it had to be moved. Since then it's stayed short and bushy, unlike the long, lanky canes that others who grow BC had complained about. Whenever I deadhead now I make sure that I cut off quite a bit more than just the flowers and it doesn't seem to inhibit it from blooming well. It's in its third flush of the year right now with new growth coming along.

Ingrid

Ingrid, I have had that happen, or something similar. Usually when I prune a large rose hard and move it, it recovers in a year or two, maybe three. But occasionally it seems to permanently change its growth pattern. After I hard-pruned and moved New Dawn it became a largish shrub rose and never again a climber. The same thing happened with Phyllis Bide. I moved it from my front gate to the back fence because I thought it was going to eat the car. Now it is a rather modest shrub. Possibly the back fence is a bad spot, and gophers are pruning the roots as they come grow out of the gopher cages. However there are plenty of robust roses growing large nearby! I can't think of a scientific explanation, but my instinct tells me it is the hard pruning accompanied by a move, which by its nature also prunes the roots. A hard pruning with the rose left in place does not seem to have the same dwarfing effect in my experience.

Rosefolly

rosefolly, I think you've put your finger on something very significant. I wonder if this knowledge could be utilized to allow a favorite rose to stay in a spot where you'd like it to remain when it's outgrown it. In other words, prune the rose hard, dig it up, possibly shorten some of the roots, amend the soil and then put it back in the same spot. In theory it might then remain smaller forever. It's certainly an intriguing idea. I suppose you could call it the bonsai effect.

Ingrid

You could root prune with your shovel without actually digging it up. Quite a bit less work.

rosefolly, that sounds like an eminently sensible suggestion. Thank you! (Of course with my method you'd get a heck of a lot more exercise....)

Ingrid