Zena Robson - Prune ramblers but leave the rest

My rambling rose ‘Veilchenblau’ has been superb this year – an absolute mass of flower. With ramblers that only flower once, you generally do the pruning after they have finished flowering rather than wait until spring. My rose has been in for 4 years now so I shall be taking out one of the oldest stems right to the ground and shortening the side shoots by two thirds. The idea is to encourage new growth which will be pliable enough for me to tie it where I want it to go.

You don’t do any serious pruning of any other types of rose now; climbers (as opposed to ramblers), shrubs, hybrid teas and floribundas have their cutback in spring so for the time being it’s about deadheading and watching out for blackspot. Any leaves that are infected should be picked off and disposed of in your green bin, not your compost heap. You can spray with a fungicide as well, although it’s probably a bit late for that, to be honest!

If you have Box balls, cones or hedging then now is the time to start clipping it into shape. You can do this with other evergreens as well, such as Yew. Check variegated shrubs such as Eleagnus and Euonymus cultivars for any green shoots developing – this is called reversion, and if they are not removed then the whole thing will revert to its normal green state.

Pinching out plants such as Fuchsias is a good plan. That way you will get bushier plants with more flowers on them. You can do the same with anything in your hanging basket or tub that has become leggy and unsightly – Petunias are prone to this so just cut them back and they will regrow but don’t try it with trailing Lobelia as it does not.

If you have ornamental cherry, eating/cooking cherry or plum trees that need a bit of work doing on them, now is the time to do that as well. If the work is serious, your best bet is to get in a tree surgeon; small stuff like overcrowded and crossing thin branches is a DIY job. Keep cuts as clean and sharp as possible. You will also get some ‘June drop’ starting to happen on all top fruit trees. This is a natural occurrence as the tree knows that it cannot sustain all of the potential crop and stay alive for the following year! However, you can help it out too by taking off some of the developing fruitlets where they are most crowded – it’s always best that they don’t touch each other anyway.

There is still time to sow annuals that germinate quickly such as Cosmos and Calendula. Cosmos has become a firm favourite in that it flowers for ages, especially so if deadheaded regularly. We have put Cosmos outside the garden centre in our big tubs and the new trough by the gate (a new one made by Gary and Jo as the old stone one fell apart!) and hope they will be as spectacular as they were last year! Mind you, it didn’t help that I had to rush out with string and canes to create a cat’s cradle around and through them the day after I had planted them out – the wind was whipping them around so much I thought they would snap off before they could give you a good show!

We have also been selling home-grown seedlings of a few unusual annuals such as Cleome, Didiscus, Zinnia, Clary Sage and Ammi visnaga for you to try. They all make brilliant cut flowers as well.