Pruning a shrub rose - part 2: Propagation, pests & diseases

Grafting and Rose Suckers

Almost all of our roses now are grafted onto a different root.

• This means the nursery can 'bud' (bud graft) just a tiny section of the desired rose onto the roots of a more vigorous rose, usually Rosa laxa, though it used to be Rosa canina. This way they can make lots of plants from one stem.

Suckers are strong stems that come up from the very base of the plant, below the knuckle-like grafting join, and are different to the main rose, as they're the rootstock species.

• If you find suckers, prune them down as low as possible - preferably under the soil.

• Otherwise, the sucker will be stronger than the rose on top, and eventually, your rose will be outcompeted and die.

I'm not convinced that grafted roses give an advantage to gardeners any more, because with the changing climate, I'm not sure Rosa laxa is so suitable for our drier summers, and I'm seeing dieback on the roses.

• Now we propagate our own roses from cuttings.

• I feel we need to move away from roses on rootstocks and towards taking our own cuttings.

How to Take Rose Cuttings

November is a great time to take hardwood cuttings, so now you've pruned the rose and produced lots of material, it's the perfect time.

1. Look for new wood that's grown this year.

• If you can bend it easily it's too soft - take off the end until where it's relatively firm and pencil thickness.

1. Make a straight cut just underneath a bud at the bottom.

1. Go about 8 inches up the stem towards the tip and find another bud. Make a slanting cut just above that bud.

• It becomes hard to tell which end of the stem is which when it's been cut and there are no leaves, so the slanting cut tells you which end is the top, so you plant it the right way up.

• Also, as when pruning, the slant will stop excess moisture collecting and rotting the bud.

1. Plant the cuttings in a shady bed or a large pot that's kept moist. Bury about two-thirds of the stem under the soil and ensure the soil is kept moist during dry periods the following summer.

• They'll take about a year to root, and then you'll have a plant ready to use in the garden in 18 months to two years.

Though it's not a quick process, cuttings are a great way to get lots of roses for free. Being a rose growing on its own roots, I suspect they might also be more resilient in a changing climate.

Rose Health and Composting

• Once I've finished pruning, I sterilise my secateurs before moving to the next plant to prevent transfer of diseases.

• We're now able to compost all our rose material, even if it's infected, as our compost heaps reach a high temperature.

• If you can't guarantee your compost is reaching a certain temperature, I'd suggest burning your rose prunings or disposing of them in a different way rather than composting them.

• Remember rose leaves that have dropped to the ground - gather these up to dispose of.

• Mulching now will seal in any blackspot or rust so it doesn't reinfect the rose. So prune, clear away the fallen leaves, and then apply a 5cm layer of mulch such as homemade compost, mushroom compost, strulch or other organic mulch.

A Cocktail of Essential Oils

Since we've moved to a much more organic approach, we don't spray any fungicides and pesticides. We only use a combination of five essential oils - including clove, winter or summer savoury, sweet orange, tea tree and thyme.

We spray this cocktail of essential oils on our roses - it smells fantastic but helps the rose be strong and healthy, and also to discourage any pests and diseases.

• The old roses are most prone to diseases (rust, black spot, mildew) and pests (rose leaf curling sawfly, aphids); newer varieties are less susceptible.

• Even our old roses haven't really suffered and are no worse now than when we used to use synthetic fungicides and pesticides.

• I'm a strong advocate for moving to a more organic approach, and it's something we feel better about as well as the rose.

How to make:

1. mix 3ml of each essential oil with 150ml of rapeseed oil
2. add 45ml of olive oil, black soa, and mix
3. mix into 15 litres of water.

Immerse Yourself in the Garden

Rose pruning is quite a slow and reflective form of gardening, so it gives you a chance to think about the space while absorbed in the task and the place.

• I think about the roses and whether they're still the right roses in these spaces, and whether I might want to replace them in a few years with something else.

• I think about the other plants around the roses in spring and summer, and what I might want to propagate or sow to add to these spaces.

Rosa Spinosissima

Rosa spinosissima, or "spinosissimas", are a wonderful group of roses to introduce to your garden if you don't have them already. For me, out of our 300 roses, this Scotch rose called 'Dunwich Rose' was the star of the show this year, covered in creamy white flowers.

"Spinosissimas" have so many attributes that I love:

• they flower incredibly generously, and flower a bit earlier in May rather than June.

• the heat isn't so intense then, so the flowers last for longer

• the foliage is beautiful small, ferny leaves that are completely disease-free and go amazing colours in autumn before dropping

• the stems are also beautifully coloured

• they need very little to no pruning - this rose is 7 years old now, and there's been hardly anything that I've needed to do.

As well as 'Dunwich', we've got a double white called 'Mary Queen of Scots', and a single cherry called 'William III'. There are about a dozen, and they're all definitely worth growing.

Logging the Roses

I know this 'Dunwich Rose' was planted in 2017 because we recorded it on the plan of the bed. This is a simple baseplan of the Rose Garden with hand-drawn groups of roses that we list on another page.

• It's really helpful to have a record of what you've planted where and when, and where it was sourced from, and it means we don't need lots of labels.

• We also note which roses shouldn't be deadheaded because they have hips.

• It's a useful document that we amend every time we take a rose out or plant a new one.

"For me it's the immersion in the garden that's so satisfying about pruning - the task is important, but it's really feeling at one with the place that I find most satisfying."

Further Resources

• Troy's pick of his favourite Sissinghurst roses from Gardens Illustrated