Climbing rose massacre- what do I do now?

9 months ago

My mother in law was being "helpful" and severely cut back my two Mme Alfred Carrière that I was in the process of training up a trellis. All the main canes cut to about 3 feet! She thought she was being helpful to encourage a fuller rose bush. Except thats not at all what I was trying to achieve. Now I have stubby canes with new shoots going wild.

This particular location needs to have fairly long canes to train up and then sideways. I keep side shoots well under controll until about 5" off the ground.

The damage is done, but I do not know what to do next. Cut everything back and start basically from scratch with new canes? Can I make a shoot into a new cane by training it vertically? I just feel sick about starting over and loosing all my previous growth.

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Comments (5)

Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
9 months ago
I am so sorry. I had a masssacre in Alaska when my babysitter's husband did this. It is possible cutting your plant to the ground might make the best looking recovery in the long run.
Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6
9 months ago
last modified: 9 months ago

Last question answered:

Of course you can. Pick the most robust new canes, and train them upward. The weakling canes....remove them. You will just have more canes to branch out vertically once they reach the top of the trellis, making it more full. Your MiL actually did you a favor!

Mothers in Law are not always w-tch-s!

Moses.
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bellarosa
9 months ago
Same thing happened to my two Pomponella climbing roses that were well over 8 feet tall, when our landscaper's assistant cut them down to 2 feet. I was so upset! The rose is still alive, but it's taking it's sweet time getting back to it's taller height.
kitasei2
9 months ago
Did the OP mean 5 inches off the ground or five feet?
Abby F
Original Author
9 months ago
5 feet. Typo.

Mother in law is a talented gardener and great person, just a mistake on this one.

Thanks very much for all the answers!