Pruning the roses, all fifty of them, is not anybody’s favorite chore come winter. But prune them we must. And in addition to snipping back all those extravagant canes, it’s advisable to strip off any remaining leaves from each plant.
That way, if we wind up with weeks of rain (if only! So far this winter, we are woefully behind our necessary rainfall and the California state government has already declared that this coming summer will see drought conditions and strict water restrictions), the roses won’t be in any danger of succumbing to rust or black spot, two diseases that attack the leaves. So for the foreseeable future, my roses are bare naked and disease-free, and we like it that way.
I’m not completely naked – I’m dressed in thorns!
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