Climbing Rose Pruning
by Eileen
(Wisconsin)
I live in southern Wisconsin, and was given a 1 year old Joseph's Coat climbing rose bush as a gift the spring before last. The card with care instructions was missing, so I'm not sure how to prune it. The first year it only grew to about 4 ft. tall. I didn't prune it at all last spring, and it grew to about 6 1/2 feet tall. I noticed last year that all the new shoots grew from the bottom of the plant. Should I prune it this spring, or should I leave it alone?
Doug says "oh oh" when you see all the new shoots coming from the bottom of a climbing rose it usually means the flower top is dead and the rootstock is throwing shoots. Rootstocks are not the rose you want and either will bloom with single flowers or none at all but in any case won't climb.
Gently scrape away the soil at the base of the rose - if the new shoots are coming from below the bud graft - and if the tops are dead - then dig and pitch the plant.
If the tops branches that grew in the first year are alive - you need to remove all last year's suckers and prune the tops - remove all that came from below the graft point.
Good luck and I hope it's alive
