That's a very nice Blue Girl. Say, that could be a new contest: post your best BG photo. Sadly, I have no contenders, BG was wretched here; she may be a California girl.

Beautiful! But my question is if it looks that lovely why do you have to prune it? Is it really necessary to cut it down or do you just do it because it's what's done?

I'll leave Blue Girl alone until she's done with this flush--I have a bunch of roses in the back yard covered in hips that I'll start with first . I generally prune just to shape them up and get them back to a reasonable proportion--somebody once told me that gardening in LA requires irrigation and a machete, and while it's exaggeration, it also has elements of truth to it. So I prune the floribundas so that they don't swallow the yard, and I prune the hybrid teas to get rid of dead canes and leaves that have gone by.

DrPekeMom,

It is not just "time to prune" for many who garden in the Southwest, but it is also a good time to dig up and re-locate roses, which for me is a far, far, worse chore. Thank goodness I only have one requiring a new location. I have also been digging holes for the two dozen+ bare-root roses that will arrive during the next couple of weeks or so. Give me those pruning shears any day!

Lynn

Hybrid Teas tend not to branch much, heading them back can produce a fuller specimen with more flowers. Organized investigation using controls has shown that whacking roses across the top non-selectively, in the manner of pruning the top of a hedge back results in more flowering. This is due to more stem tissue being retained than with selective thinning ("opening up the center"). So annual shortening of numbers of bushes should mostly just be a matter of giving them a flat top and raking up the prunings, with some cutting out of dead pieces etc. - same as with shearing a formal hedge.

We relocated five yesterday! I hate doing it, too. Endless questioning about whether it's the right decision, whether I'm going to kill it, etc. etc. etc.

I have three to dig up and move, ugh, but also moved a young Pomegranate, an old grape, and a passion fruit vine. And I have 5 new fruit trees to go in, at least they do not have thorns.

I am having a hard time explaining to my roses that it is pruning time and they are supposed to be dormant. I think I have seen some of the best displays from Icebergs around town all year.

My Double Delight won't stop! I thought I was the only one who was late this year, but I stopped fertilizing when Pat Walsh says to!!

Today I pulled out a too-big rosemary and replaced it with a rose that is mean to get big and billowy in the back of a shady boarder (Lyda rose) and I moved a stray agapanthus from the back of the bed (why did I put it there? What exactly was I thinking?) to a smaller bed, by a buddleia, so that the hummers can just pig out in that one spot.

Started in today and I have a pile of candidates for burrito rooting. Hope I get some to root. I was thinking it might help if I could learn this so peoples plants could be saved or shared. The more people who can propagate the better chance we have of saving rare plants. The first rose I ever rooted was stuck into sandy soil in bright shade and covered with a white trash bag. It was ugly but it worked. I think I was just lucky with the timing.

As soon as street sweeping is over, I'll make a big pile on the driveway and haul it all off this weekend and next.

Happy pruning and planting everyone!

This is the first time I've pruned in SoCal so I hope I'm not taking off too much. Back in CT I got lots of basals every spring but so far here it doesn't look good for basals. I'm also getting rid of some that were especially susceptible to PM including former favorites like Dolly Parton and Fragrant cloud. These will be free for the taking if anyone wants them.

I always worry that I am taking off too much, too, and they always seem to come back just fine. I think in order to get basals you need more real dormancy than you are likely to get here. I don't see splits until the roses are older here, and I used to get more breaks in my Iowa garden.

I get most of my HT basal growth in fall before and during the fall flush