Bloom All At Once Or…
Many rosarians are over achievers. They are excited to get out and get their roses ready for the first bloom. You have a decision to make before you prune your roses. Do you want your roses to bloom all at once for the greatest impact? Or, do you want your roses to bloom in stages? When it is time to go out and prune we often feel like we have to do it all at once.
Staged Bloom?
Rose Pruning Elbow!? Oh No!
One year pruning 200 roses over the course of a couple of days I developed a severe case of acute tendonitis, or tennis elbow! Getting tennis elbow from playing tennis sounds a bit more glamorous than getting tennis elbow from pruning 200 roses I think. I had to wear a brace for a long time since tendons are a bear to heal and every time I picked up the clippers they would just release without that brace on. So here are a few way ways we can take care not to over do it and be sure to not have pruning take a bite out of YOU!
Safety Tips For Pruning Roses
- Stretch before starting to garden
- Use good body mechanics, warm up muscles
- Sit when you can or invest in a good rolling cart
- Lift with your legs and keep your back straight
- Use the big muscles in your legs to perform lifting, bending, shoveling
- When pruning or weeding be sure you are stable to avoid tipping backward
- Maintain a good posture to avoid back strain by not hunching over
- Always use a kneeling pad and gloves, preferably gaunlets
- Well maintained pruners make for easier cuts
- Practice gentle strength- have the best tools in top condition and don’t try to do everything at once
Rose Hobby or Passion?
A friend said to me once “what a lovely hobby you have” referring to rose gardening. I remember I was taken aback by the word hobby because growing roses is so much more to me than a hobby. I feel gardening is good for the body, mind and soul. There is a spiritual element to being one with nature, digging in the dirt and watching a garden become a creation. There are quiet, reflective and meditative times alone in the garden that are some of the most intensely satisfying moments one can imagine. You can truly be present in a moment in your rose garden. It can be even better if you take care of yourself, so you can continue working in your garden and it will reward you far more than you can imagine.
