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John has been answering reader queries for 50 years
Is it safe to prune roses now?
Q I have a couple of new roses that are growing some branches more vigorously than others. They look strange, so is it OK to prune them now?
Jenny Palmer, Exeter, Devon
A There is no harm in pruning roses at any time of the year if it is needed to control their size.
We always think of doing them at the end of the dormant season, but actually summer pruning is also recommended for some types.
My concern is why some of the branches are significantly larger than the others. Are these branches coming from at or below ground level, possibly slightly away from the plant?
I have a rose that has done the same and I’m pretty certain that the ‘odd’ branch is actually a sucker from the rootstock, rather than the original rose variety I planted.
Keep an eye on yours and see if the flowers coming from the strange branch are what you are expecting – if they are from the rootstock rather than the grafted variety you bought, they will probably be quite different from those on the main plant.
The sucker
