Question
Im hoping you can tell me when to cut back my roses.Im from Maryland.My roses are climbers,I believe there called Jacobs Ladder.Today is Sat, March 6 2008.  thank-you

Answer
In your area, the middle of March is usually safe to prune  roses. What with the weird weather we are getting plus if it keeps up, then it will make it very hard to decide the right time to prune roses. However it is okay to prune roses even when they are starting to bud out so leaving it a bit latter because of the possibility of a nasty cold snap, won't hurt the roses at all. Climbers really only need to be pruned when they outgrow the space allotted them, otherwise you can just trim back the ends and cut out the diseased and dead canes. Josephs Coat prefers to grow as a large shrub and too much hard pruning will encourage him to grow as a shrub.