Frank BrinesARS Master RosarianHappy New Year – let's hope for ideal rose growing weather for 2026. This winter has been very different from last winter. In 2024, the period October – December gave us only 0.1” of rain. In 2025, the same period provided 5” of rain. (I remember one year when we got 33” from October through April!)In any case, climate change is making weather conditions more variable, more extreme, and less predictable.Which brings us to the next major task in the garden: Annual pruning. This major pruning resets the plants' biological clock, acting as a wake-up call to begin a new life cycle. You can expect the first flush of blooms about 10 weeks after that major pruning.You may be itching to prune so you can have blooms as soon as possible, b
