Friend, Second District Supervisor Pruning Roses During Winter Dormancy, By Tony Tomeo

Pops is Ready to Retire

Pops (A277998) came to the Shelter from our friends at Hitchcock Road Animal Services in Salinas. He has been hanging out in a foster home for the past couple days and is doing wonderfully!

This 9 year old gentleman would fool you with his energy. He loves to go for walks and sniff EVERYTHING. He is strong on leash but walks nicely with his Freedom Harness on. His foster mom says he is “the most energetic 9 year old dog she has ever met”.

Pops is in foster with a 4 year old female spayed heeler/collie mix and enjoys playing with her. Pops really is the best of both worlds — social and energetic enough to go for hikes and adventures but has enough soul to be relaxed and watch the world go by.

He has been very relaxed about passing people, dogs and cars on his walks. His foster mom says he LOVES fuzzy blankets. She wraps him up in blankets like a little burrito.

Pops goes up and down the stairs okay and is eager to jump in the car for adventures. Our veterinary staff say that Pops appears to be in good health for his age! If you are looking for a gentleman to call your best friend — look no further than Pops.

Due to Shelter in Place, our current hours are reduced to 12-4pm.

Adoptions are first come, first served! Please view available animals on our website and then visit the Shelter to turn in your application. All adoptions require proof of home ownership or landlord approval. Please have this information prepared. If an animal is in Foster Care, please bring in your adoption application and schedule an appointment to meet the animal. Call 831-454-7200 x0 during business hours or visit www.scanimalshelter.org for more information! n

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Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter’s full-service, open-admission shelter:

Santa Cruz Location (Public Entrance): 1001 Rodriguez St., Santa Cruz, 95062

Hours: Daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Watsonville Location: CURRENTLY CLOSED 580 Airport Blvd, Watsonville, CA 95076

SCCAS Main line: 831-454-7200. Animal Control: 831-454-7227. After-Hours Emergency: 831-471-1182 • After Hours: jillian.ganley@santacruzcounty.us

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FEATURED COLUMNIST Pruning Roses During Winter Dormancy

By Tony Tomeo

Contrary to what the recent pleasant weather suggests, it is still winter. Most plants are resisting the temptation to break dormancy prematurely. They must know that the days are still short, regardless of the weather.

Most plants are surprisingly proficient with scheduling. Nonetheless, dormant pruning should happen sooner than later. This includes pruning roses. They have been ready for a while.

Technically, roses are ready for pruning as soon as they begin to defoliate. Also technically, rose pruning can be as late as the buds of the bare stems remain dormant. Later pruning is preferable in some regions where pruning wounds are susceptible to pathogens. Such delay is riskier here where mild weather can disrupt dormancy prematurely. Wounds are less vulnerable to pathogens.

Pruning roses is about as important as pruning deciduous fruit trees. Without adequate pruning, rose plants become too overgrown to perform properly. Crowded stems are unable to elongate as they should. Diseases and insects proliferate in congested foliage, and damage bloom. Specialized pruning concentrates resources into fewer but significantly more vigorous stems and flowers.

Although the technique may seem to be drastic, pruning roses is not very complicated. Hybrid tea, grandiflora and floribunda roses should retain only three to six of their most vigorous canes. The canes should be only about two feet tall, and cut just above a healthy bud. If possible, they should be canes that grew during the previous year, from bottom to top. Older canes should be removed.

Pruning roses of other classifications may be slightly different. Some types may retain more canes. Climbing types likely retain old canes for several years before replacement. Carpet roses and other ungrafted roses can be cut nearly to the ground, leaving no canes at all. Tree roses are like bush types, but on top of short trunks. New canes grow from their graft unions on top of the trunks.

Of course, potentially vigorous sucker growth that develops from below the graft union of any grafted rose must go. •••

Cecile Brunner Rose

Few modern rose cultivars are as tolerant of neglect as Cecile Brunner rose. Furthermore, few recover as efficiently from renovation after many years of neglect. Old overgrown thicket growth that might be unsightly while bare through winter can be spectacular in bloom. Alternatively, it does not mind aggressive pruning, even if only stumps remain. It easily regenerates with fresh new canes.

Bloom is nicely profuse early in summer. The individual fluffy pink flowers are not much more than two inches wide, but are rarely alone. They develop in big and possibly billowy clusters. The faint fragrance is easy to ignore, but appealing to some. After primary bloom, subsequent bloom is sporadic. Green stems are less prickly than stems of most other roses. Foliage is rather light green.

Shrubs are vigorous but compact. They may not get much taller than two feet. Most stay less than four feet tall. However, there are actually a few cultivars that are known as ‘Cecile Brunner’. Those that are most familiar are climbing types that can easily get higher than twenty feet. Their bloom is sparse after profuse early summer bloom. Some might bloom rather profusely again for autumn. n •••

Horticulturist Tony Tomeo can be contacted at tonytomeo.com.

Cecile Brunner rose is elegantly simple.