Another rose question

[SquirmOfEels]

Separate thread as I didn't want to divert the other one about the rose in the pot but it's another one about roses and winter

First frost has been - and normally I'd want to winterise roses before that. I'm in London, and our frosts are not severe (though it did make it to -3) and the garden is not large, well fenced so does not get much wind chill

With the warm autumn, the roses were putting forth buds until about a week ago, and are still flowering plus there are a couple of unopened buds.

I was waiting for them to finish (hoping that would happen before it got properly cold) before final deadheading and I also want to shorten a few of the very long stems.

Is it still a good idea to do this (between waves of frosts - looks like the next week isn't going to be that cold here) ?

What's the latest I could leave it - wondering if I should wait until flowers are over, or sacrifice them?

You don't really have to do very much apart from a little tidying up of wayward canes or damaged canes. Go ahead and cut off the long canes - helps to maintain stability in winter winds. It isn't unusual to see the odd bloom right up till Xmas (I have a fairly sheltered urban garden). What do you mean by winterising? Removing foliage?

I mean cutting back long stems (I assume that's what you mean by canes?) so they don't whip around - not that I expect my garden to be particularly windy!

I don't usually do anything about foliage, but seeing a post on a different thread about getting rid of diseased looking leaves then yes I suppose I'd better do that

Two of the bushes I want to be rather smaller next year, so was I thinking about taking them down a little further than I normally would, nothing too drastic for any others

I suppose my question boils down to what is the point beyond which it's no longer prudent to prune when frosts might be around. Some of the remaining flowers and buds are on quite tall stems

Thank you for your reassurance - I know that roses are actually quite tough once settled. I just don't quite believe it!

Yep, roses are perfectly hardy in the UK - absolutely no need to do anything apart from cutting off lashing canes. There is a lot of myth and mystique regarding rose pruning. We can mess about with them, pruning, training, tying in, feeding, deadheading, watering...but I promise you, if you did absolutely nothing whatsoever, your rose will not die. Might get a bit gnarly but it is true, they are very resilient plants.
Anyway, no need to worry - just cut out the long canes or tie them in if they are climbers, unless it is once blooming rambler (which has a different pruning regime).
What roses are they, btw?

I don't know!! They were there before me

I don't think any are ramblers (I've just googled for images)

One is a climber (pink, vigorous, not particularly scented) that I tidied and tied in a few weeks ago; just need to nip off some dead heads and that one is all set.

Others are mainly normal looking ones - so probably shrub? hybrid tea? - clearly been there quite a while (quite thick bases) most grow to 4 feet or more (a couple are smaller ones - not sure if it's the type or if they're just less happy). The ones that are still flowering are this type.

Two look as if they're closer relatives of a rugosa because of the thorns. One is white and grows alarmingly long stems surprisingly rapidly, the other is a more normal bush that grows well but not exuberantly, and has masses of rust coloured flowers (could be a bush rose, looks quite a lot like Harkness 'Hot Chocolate')

As long as they aren't so tall that they will be rocked by the wind, then you can leave them and prune as normal in early February. I've cut flowers from my Iceberg rose and had them in a vase on the table on Christmas Day before.