Prune Those Roses
Your roses have finally begun to bloom. You want to keep them healthy and blooming as long as possible. Here are some useful tips:
First, after your first batch of blooms, get busy pruning those rose bushes. They need to be thinned, and the spent blooms need to be removed. This will discourage black spot, which is most prevalent during the mid summer months, and will encourage more blooms throughout the summer.
This can be a really thorny job, so be sure to wear protective gear on your arms. A tip I just read about in 1,001 Gardening Secrets by Gayle K. Wood suggests using tongs to hold the stems as you prune. This definitely reduces the risk of you looking like you just got out of a fight with a feline after a rose pruning session.
Also, when you are pruning, keep some rubbing alcohol and some cotton pads with you. As you move from rose bush to rose bush, take a second to clean your pruners with the alcohol to reduce the spread of any diseases such as blackspot.
In this climate, especially, I find that pruning roses does nothing to slow down their production of blooms. Have at it, and enjoy a colorful yard all summer and autumn.
