Question
Hi again Lynette,

With the unseasonable warm winter we've just had in the South of the UK, all my roses are starting to burst into life (Leaf wise anyhow, no flowers yet). It's at this point that I would normally be reminded to carry out my early season pruning, however the weather has turned very cold suddenly. I'm guessing i shouldn't prune back until risk of all frosts are passed, but will there be any problems cutting back plant material that's actively started growing again?

Answer
There are two types of growth on roses. One is the older and harder type and the other is the new and softer growth. The newer growth is far more sensitive to cold than the older type. If you prune your roses now, that will encourage new growth and if the weather turns nasty, it will probably dieback to the older canes. New rose growth can withstand around 3 or 4 days of below freezing, after that the canes will freeze and could die. However if you leave your roses and just let them grow and prune them after the really cold weather has passed, you are probably going to have to cut a lot of the new growth off. This will not kill the roses, just makes the flowering time later than usual.  So pruning the roses now could shorten them even more with cold, leaving them later could mean they only die back to the older growth.