Question
polyanthus 1
I have 7 Fairy rose plants that were planted last year. I live in Burlington, NC. This March I started to trim them because they looked straggly. I cleaned out all the smaller dead branches. I fertilized the Bayer Systemic. Should I prune the long branches back now to have a fuller bush with more flowers this year? I am afraid to do too much pruning but they look wild. Janet
AnswerWhat you did was correct and will make the roses look tidier. Pruning back the long canes tends to make the other smaller canes push out sideways but that guarantee you will get more flowers. Fairy roses are not naturally tidy looking bushes so you are fighting a battle to make them look different. Because they are doing so well, I would cut back the taller canes to just a few inches above the others to make an attractive bush that mounds. The strong cane will always grow taller and stronger, plus draw energy from the others, so the only way you can keep the bush more even, is to cut the main strong cane down to the base which of course you don't want to do. Commercial growers use electric hedge trimmers on this type of roses and get more flowers by doing it.
