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On windy winter day, look up and start pruning

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 27, 2018

This "Fragrant Lavender Simplicity" shrub rose is blooming above the house gutters at right. The windy weather makes those canes dangerous. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Tall rose canes can be hazardous to plant and people

In winter, I garden with one eye on the weather forecast and the other on the calendar. Sun, wind or rain pushes various chores up the to-do list.

Windy conditions have me pulling out the loppers. I've got to do some pruning before somebody gets hurt.

Thursday's gusts sent tall rose canes swaying wildly, whipping about dangerously across paths and patio. If a prickly cane doesn't whack the house, it could whack me across the face. All that wind dancing can rip plants apart.

Those canes are coming down.

With 25 mph wind gusts forecast for Sacramento, protection against wind damage becomes a top priority. Which plants need help? Tie down or support new transplants that may be whipped around or bent. Prune tall rose canes that may be broken.

In my garden, I'm focusing on the rose canes.

It's a little early for me to be pruning my roses. Most still have leaves and flowers. They haven't yet gone dormant, the best time to prune.

Rose pruning is my biggest annual garden job. As a longtime rosarian, I've accumulated a lot of roses. I have well over 100 bushes in the ground. (That's small by rosarian standards, but there's only so much sun in our yard.)

Most of my rose pruning happens in January and February. Due to warm fall weather, scores of bushes in my garden are still blooming. That same warm weather also caused growth spurts. Several bushes pushed out incredibly tall canes that are susceptible to wind damage.

A prime example grows at the edge of our patio. "Fragrant Lavender Simplicity" is a shrub rose. Usually about 4 to 5 feet tall, it flowers abundantly in an amazingly long season, from early April to pruning time. It's still blooming, but right now at the end of 10-foot canes. They reach past the rain gutters. Because the canes are not much thicker than my finger, they really move.

If I prune the whole bush now, it will try to push out new growth in January. Those tender sprouts may be susceptible to frost. Also, part of pruning is removing all foliage. There are too many leaves; better to wait and let colder nighttime temperatures prompt leaf drop. (Then, I can just rake them up without getting scratched.)

Although the bush is not ready to fully prune, removing those tall canes will help start the process and protect the bush.

This shrub rose has more than 20 canes. I won't decide which to keep or take out until later. For right now, the whole bush is coming down to about 3 feet. It will be protected from wind damage and halfway pruned.

And I'll have a nice winter bouquet for indoors, out of all that wind.

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gardening rose canes Sacramento pruning winter weather roses wind damage flowers

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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