Roses

[Pootles2010]

How do you tell different types of roses apart? Bought one last year, totally forgot what it's called.

It's shot up, lots of leafy growth, then a good few inches of stems, with a clump of flowers at the top.

They're really beautiful, but a bit congested iyswim. It need a good prune, but i don't know how, because not sure what type!

How do you tell them apart? Its not a climber or rambler or minature, but apart from that, how do you tell? Think it might be a tea or a shrub

In an experiment a few years ago they 'pruned' roses with a hedgetrimmer: worked fine, roses flourished, plenty of flowers etc. The only reason for faffing around is to get a nice shape and what you think is nice is up to you.

Basic rules

• deadhead it as you go along: either nip off the spent flowers just behind the blobby bit or cut back to a 5-lobed leaf with a blob on the other side that faces out not in
• main prune in spring; you can cut it back in late autumn too to tidy it up if it's got a bit leggy
• prune out anything dead, diseased, damaged
• prune back to a leaf with 5 lobes
• prune back to an outward facing blob - so when it grows again the new branch will grow out not in
• remember it will grow back to at least the size you started with, so don't be afraid to prune hard

Just go for it. It will be fine.