Pruning Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) in Late Winter - March 2024

This past season, I opted for a different method of winter crown protection for our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) than I've used in previous years.  In each of the past few Falls, I have set up a ring of chicken wire and filled it with chopped-up fallen tree leaves to serve as insulation on the crown of the rose bush.  This year, I opted for mounding of biosolids.  A 'hilling up' in the traditional way, but using municipal biosolids vs something like compost. 

As Winter started to fade away, I went out and inspected the roses and discovered a good part of the canes were still green - so that means that the combination of a mild Winter, their protected location and the mounding of biosolids did their job.  

That also meant that it was time to get out there and do an annual pruning of the roses - part of my 'seasonal tasks' that I keep-up on in each of my annual to-do lists. (This year will be no different.)

I've done this each of the past-few late Winters/early Springs.  Here's a look at 2023 when I pruned these back in late March.  

Here's what the furthest West Disneyland Rose looked like pre-pruning:

And here, below, is a look at that same Disneyland Rose post-pruning.  The second photo shows a longer-view that includes the next down-the-line Disneyland Floribunda Rose post-pruning.  Each of these two photos show the trunk of one of the SugarTyme Crabapple trees and a mix of alliums - Summer Beauty and Christophii.  

Pretty soon after pruning off the dead portions of the rose canes, new growth emerged from the buds.  Here, below, is a peek at some of the early foliage that is emerging for this year's season:

I'll go out and take a couple of photos of the three other Disneyland Roses that are planted in our front porch beds.  Those are a number of years BEHIND these and they didn't handle the Winter as well as these three more-mature floribunda roses.  

I also have to begin to get ready for two things on these roses:  First...feeding.  Historically, I've started monthly feeding of our roses in mid-April.  With the use of biosolids this past Winter, I'll be watching these closely to see if they're pushing out growth WITHOUT supplemental nitrogen.  And, second....sawfly larvae.  Last year, I confirmed what I was seeing all season:  sawfly larvae eating the foliage.  I am going to go at them two-ways this year;  with the application of a systemic treatment (I started using a combination treatment + feed late last year) and having a regular spraying of the leaves with Neem Oil.