Do I dead head them?

[Margaritawithlime]

We are about to move home to a house which has been unoccupied since May. The garden needs a tidy bit I noticed when I popped over yesterday (we own it now just waiting to move in a few weeks and doing some odd jobs) that there’s a gorgeous trellis up the side with some lovely climbing roses. I want to keep them next year but they’re obviously dying now. Do I dead head them? Let them fall? How can I preserve them?

Either. Won’t make much difference. Earlier in the year, dead heading may encourage new flowers, but not this late in the year.

I tend to leave them this time of year to see if develop hips for the winter. Some varieties do, some don’t.

They are not dying - it is autumn, that is what roses do at this time of year. Their flowering season has finished now, and they will produce flowers again next year. You can dead-head them now to tidy them up. The RHS website has information on when and how to prune climbing roses.

Thank you!
i knew they were dying I just didn’t know whether the right thing was to snip them or leave them.
I’ll have a look at the website.

It won't make much difference if you deadhead them this time of year or not to be honest, you probably won't get any more flowers this year (the point of deadheading is to encourage repeat blooming).

If you don't deadhead you may get some nice rosehips later on in the year- some varieties of roses form really pretty rosehips in the autumn which can cheer up the garden a bit when everything else is going over. However, whether you do or you don't it won't make any difference to the health of plant or how it flowers next year.

Thank you! That what I was clumsily trying to ask!

I have a tidy up around now and then again in early spring.

It also depends on the type of rose. Some climbers and ramblers only flower on new wood, so all the old has to be cut back.

Some you cut back almost to the ground, others by 1/3rd.
Whatever you do, they will grow again and IME the harder you prune the more they come back stronger.

I’ve just cut my rose all the way back. Every year I have a mini panic attack, but it’s never failed to grow back —yet—.

Tidy then up when it's colder. January-March. Or you'll just stimulate growth, which will be killed in the cold weather

Thank you! They’re so lovely (well they were anyway I think!) I would love to see them again next year.

This time of year I'd cut climbers back to half their height, focus on having just a few main healthy stems and thin out any deadwood. Mainly because if you get high winds, you don't want tall loose branches flapping around in the wind and potentially damaging the plant, which could allow disease to enter through damaged stems.