Villandry rose gardenThis annual maintenance prevents the rose from receding from the base, and wearing itself out making wood. In addition, pruning these plants allows good shoot renewal, which will ensure exceptional flowering until late autumn. The aim is to obtain a harmonious shape and a balanced, not out-of-round habit. To achieve this, make sure you use well-sharpened pruning shears, and disinfected with methylated spirits between each rose pruning.
roses at Villandry Gardens
Roses Jardins Haute Couture Huismes Credit Adt Touraine Jc Coutand 2033 24As the transitional month between winter and spring, March is the best time of year to prune remontant roses, whatever their nature (shrubby, stemmed or climbing). The last major frosts have passed. What’s more, pruning the plant late avoids the risk of disease (leaves turning yellow, leaves with black spots…) thanks to the rapid healing of wounds on the branches.
Also, if the days have been relatively mild, the rosebush buds have started: the risk of making a mistake is lower. Keep 2 to 3 buds on weak branches, and 4 or 5 on the most vigorous branches. Adapt the rule according to the following rule: the cut must take place above an eye that goes outwards, to ensure good light entry inside the rosebush.
Plant pruning should also eliminate dead wood, unnecessary twigs and blackened branches, as well as suckers that start below the rose’s grafting point.
Famous for its tomato conservatory, le château de la Bourdaisière also welcomes visitors from May thanks to the magnificent flowers of its rose bushes.
Villandry, the emblematic gardens of the Loire ValleyVillandry rose garden
Rose colours in the gardens of Château de VillandryTo prune your roses properly, cut back the main stems, make a clean cut 3 mm above the third eye from the bottom, with an incline away from the bud so that rainwater does not run off this eye.
If your rosebush is very vigorous (with shoots every year rising to more than 1.50 m from the base), cut back the main stems to 5 or 6 eyes.
The pruning of climbing roses follows the same general principles as for bushes or shrubs: keep the beautiful carpenter branches (trained horizontally) as well as some secondary branches. The latter should be pruned at 3 eyes; they are the ones that will give the summer flowers. If two close branches are competing with each other, it’s best to keep the younger of the two, which will ensure the plant’s renewal.
Haute Couture Gardens in Huismes
Jardins De Villandry Credit Adt Touraine Jc Coutand 2030 43
Villandry, the emblematic gardens of the Loire ValleyCute, let’s go and see if the rose
Which this morning had declined
Her purple dress in the sun,
Has lost this vesper,
The folds of her purple dress,
And her complexion to yours the same
In the case of what are known as “non-remontant” roses, which produce a single magnificent bloom in summer, rose pruning is carried out in September. Remove twigs, dead or diseased branches from the plant, and cut back branches that have just flowered.
In autumn, it will be time to tackle planting new shrubs. This will give them time to get used to the cold of winter, develop their roots deep in the soil, and should produce their first flowers as early as spring.
And don’t forget: whatever the variety of your rose bush, as well as pruning, remember to remove spent flowers as you go along. Otherwise, the flower will turn into fruit to produce seeds, which will tire the plant and impair its flowering.
Château de la Bourdaisière
Jardins De Villandry Credit Adt Touraine Jc Coutand 2030 1So, alongside the château de Villandry, the château du Rivau is home to a large collection of fragrant roses. Many of the shrubs bear a British surname (The Pilgrim, Graham Thomas, Lady Emma Hamilton, Queen of Sweden…), but you’ll also come across Brocéliande, Michelangelo, and other Blanche Moreau. The garden-village of Chédigny is not to be outdone, with over 1,000 rosebushes (270 different varieties) keeping company with 3,000 perennials! Every year, a grand rose festival is organised in June, when the flowers are each more beautiful than the last.
