The Payoff of Pruning

The Payoff of Pruning

Madame Alfred Carrière, noisette, 1875

Madame Alfred Carrière was planted in my garden in the spring of 1993 - one of the first and most steadfast of all my roses. She was purchased from Roses of Yesterday and Today in Corralitos while Pat Wiley was running the business. Many of the others on that first large purchase have long since departed, either by death or extraction.

Madame Alfred was named for the wife of the chief editor of Revue horticole - a 19th century French horticultural magazine. She loves her location on a south facing corner of my house and has continued to bloom steadily all season long - in spite of the mosaic virus it contracted from infected rootstock. New canes arrive every year.

Past recent pruning attempts were committed in a frenzy after large pieces of it were torn from its moorings and flung it into the yard by wicked winter winds. She hadn't been methodically guided and supported properly in years. This season, however, she got the attention she needed and the results are stunning. She will continue to grow and bloom also season.

Madame Alfred Carrière, January 31, 2018, morning

Madame Alfred Carrière, January 31, late afternoon

Madame Alfred Carrière, April 28

At the base of this climber is a shallow ditch which actually carries rain water from the back yard out under the fence to the front yard and eventually down a storm drain. The rose's roots reach out under the soil in all directions. It was given two fists full of alfalfa pellets in February and fertilizer in March and early April. Here's the result on April 28, 2018.

All roses benefit from some pruning. If you hadn't done any this year, you still can cut down on disease and encourage blooms by thinning out your bush and allowing the best canes to develop.

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