Most rosarians in my area of W. PA wait until spring, when the daffodils and forsythia begin to bloom, to prune their roses.

Since I grow only the cast iron roses, like: hybrid rugosas, Buck roses, very hardy OGRs such as polyanthas and Portlands. etc., I discovered that I can do a complete, spring type pruning in the late fall (as late as possible so as not to stimulate, by pruning, a premature break of dormancy), just after Thanksgiving but before Christmas, with excellent results.

Before you say I'm off my rocker, let me tell you why I fall prune, and the benefits of this unusual method.

By the way, I do not recommend anyone follow my example, at least not on a grand scale. Maybe experiment with a few bushes this year and progress slowly and carefully thereafter. "What works for me may not work for you." The class of roses you grow will have a great deal to do with whether success is possible.

A number of years ago I got the bright idea to completely interplant my rose bed with ONLY crocus and miniature daffodils (Tet a' Tet, and Minnow)...easy to grow, blooms earlier than standard daffodils, stays low, not interfering with the roses when they commence growing, and because the foliage is so small and comes earlier, it's less of an eyesore until it fully rots after blooming, well before 4th. of July.

I did not realize that with the multitude of them growing in every available space between the roses I could not walk through the rose bed to prune it in the spring, which roughly coincides with these spring bloomers' peak of bloom! My rose bed is too large and wide to reach in and prune; I have to walk right into the bed to prune it.

I got the bright idea, since my roses are so hardy and have almost no winter damage with no protection right up to last year's tips, that pruning in the fall could work. Does it really matter when these 'work horse' roses are pruned, fall or spring? Well, it doesn't appear to be so.

The advantages to pruning in the fall are many: the ground is firmer for walking, soil compaction is reduced; roses bloom as early as possible, adding a couple more weeks of bloom for the year, since previously, when pruning was done in spring, often the bushes had already well broken dormancy and given a couple weeks of growth that was pruned away, making the bush start over again thereby delaying the first flush.

What do you think of my fall pruning program?