I’ve had several people ask if the blood red thorns on my Rosa sericea ssp. omeiensis f. pteracantha (which from now on we’re just going to call the Wingthorn Rose) stay as vibrant all season. Sadly the answer is no. The photo above was taken sometime in June, with the new growth fresh and bright. The rest of these photos were taken on October 17th.
You can see many of the thorns are still just as red…
While others have started to lose their color…
And some have gone completely brown.
At the ends of several branches there are no thorns at all…
I don’t worry too much about the loss of color, because I know I’ll be cutting the plant back hard to stimulate the new colorful growth. But when to do that cutting? According to Annie’s Annuals: “To have the bloodiest show of thorns, prune the plants severely in winter to force more new growth, as the color of the thorns will fade as the growing season wears on, and the ferny foliage of the plant fills in.”
But Gossler Farms says “We cut our plants down to one foot each March.”
I guess March is technically still winter, but I was hoping for sometime like January. I am ignorant in the ways of the rose and would love to hear any advice you can share on when to do this severe pruning. My Wingthorn Rose has put on a lot of growth this year. In fact it’s kind of making me question it’s placement in the garden. I never dreamt it could get this big in one growing season; it’s even threatening the mailman. When can I chop?
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