My roses?

[Ilovesoutherncomfort]

I love my roses. I have a small patio garden so they are all in pots. I thought I had pruned them at the back end of last year but they look a straggly mess.
What can I do about them at this time if the year?

You can shorten some of the longer stems now, but you have left it rather late really. The best time to prune roses is early February, and I try to get mine done by Valentine's Day.

I'd go ahead and prune them. I always always miss the ideal pruning time and regularly hack mine back to almost nothing in the wrong months and they always come back bigger and stronger! Yours don't need that but I don't think a tidy up will do them any harm.

Can you bend any of the canes right over and tie them to the bottom of the bamboo to make a big n shape. This will both tidy the plant and stimulate more flowers along the length of the rose cane.

I'd probably give them a quick prune, but then I'm another person who doesn't obey pruning rules and does it in October.

You can prune roses whenever you like - it’s basically what you’re doing every time you dead head. You can do it now if you like, but you’ll set them back from flowering by about another month. Personally, at this point in the year, I’d leave them to flower and then give them a good hard prune after that.

I would leave them to flower for their first flush and then prune them and give them a feed. Hopefully you’ll still get a second flush. I think if you prune them now after all that effort they’ve put into new growth you’ll weaken the plant. Well that’s what I’ve been told.

This.

Try and remember to prune them in early spring and you will be rewarded with lots more flowers. I could believe the difference it made once I got my act together and did it properly.