Had a master gardener tell me my rose pruning was all wrong

I was so proud of my roses last spring until this older lady at the garden center pointed out I was cutting at the wrong angle. She said I was leaving too much stem above the bud and it was causing dieback. I went home and recut about 15 bushes at a 45 degree angle like she showed me. Now I get twice the blooms and no more brown tips. Have any of you had a random stranger give you surprising plant advice that actually worked?

2 comments

2 Comments

phoenix5738d ago

Oh man, that EXACT thing happened to me with my hydrangeas. Some random guy at the nursery said I was cutting them back too hard every fall and I was basically getting rid of all the flower buds for next year. I argued with him at first because I had been doing it that way for YEARS. But I tried his method of only taking off the dead wood and leaving the old stems alone. The difference was NIGHT and day. My bushes went from looking like sad green blobs to having HUGE blooms that lasted way longer into summer. Sometimes those random strangers really do know their stuff.

smith.parker8d ago

Wait, so you're telling me I've been basically pruning my plants like a madman with scissors this whole time? That's me for sure. I'm the guy who cuts everything back to the dirt every fall and wonders why my yard looks like a battlefield. @phoenix573, your hydrangea story hit me hard because I've got two big ones that have been nothing but green lumps for three summers now. Might have to swallow my pride and listen to some random nursery dude next time.