Published in local periodicals, this collection of articles is a treasure trove of advice from UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County for the residents of this beautiful region.
Central Sierra: From Now Til March, It's Time to Prune Your Roses
An Invitation to Garden Beauty: A Rose Pruning Primer
It’s that pruning time of year! The period from Christmas until early March (depending on elevation) is the best time to get started. Your bushes will look more attractive and produce larger flowers with good pruning, and you can shape them to the proper size for your garden. The removal of dead and diseased canes also improves rose bush health by stimulating the production of new growth with the emergence of vigorous new canes from its base. Even if your bushes still have leaves and flowers, their removal now is a chance to wipe away last year’s problems and set a new path for the coming season.
The best tools required for rose pruning
Use sharp bypass hand pruners for most cuts, and long-handled bypass loppers for thicker canes and hard-to-reach places. A fine-toothed curved saw will remove the thickest canes. A pair of leather gloves reaching to the elbows protects from thorn pricks.
The parts of the rose that should be pruned away
Completely remove all dead canes (grayish or brown in color and shriveled looking) and canes that have been less productive with a clean cut close to where they emerge from the crown at the base of the bush. Completely remove diseased and damaged canes or cut them back to healthy wood at least one inch below the affected area so the inner wood (pith) is white. Remove all suckers coming from the root stock beneath the bush. Select the strongest three to six outer canes (smooth and green or bronze in color) to become the foundation for next year’s growth. They will ideally be arranged in a vase-like shape around the open center of the bush when pruning is finished.
Remove with a clean cut at the parent stem any growth that is smaller than a pencil and which crosses or rubs other growth. Direct new growth away from the center by making cuts at a 45-degree angle, one-quarter inch above a bud that faces upward and to the outside of the bush. Buds can be found at leaf attachments; some will look like red dots or green smiles, while others might already be pushing leaf growth out. Remove all growth headed toward the plant’s center to discourage fungal diseases by improving sunlight access and air flow. Shorten the remaining canes on established hybrid tea, floribunda, and grandiflora varieties by one-third to one-half in length. Shrub and English roses should be given a lighter pruning, with 6-8 healthy canes left on the bush.
Post-pruning tasks for healthy, beautiful roses
After pruning, remove and dispose of all remaining leaves, along with pruned cuttings, fallen leaves, and debris collected from under the bush – no composting. Make a heavy application of dormant spray or horticultural oil on a day where there is no wind and there will be no wet weather for at least 24 hours. Thoroughly spray the bush and the ground beneath it to suffocate any remaining insect eggs or fungal spores. Apply a layer of mulch 2-3 inches deep, pulled away from the base of the plant. Fertilize about four weeks after pruning; water deeply after application.
Enjoy a wonderful rose year!
Have a rose pruning question? Ask a Master Gardener in El Dorado County by clicking the button to our information survey below or call 530-621-5512 and leave us a message. A volunteer will get back to you during our office hours.
This article, written by Donna Marshall, UC Master Gardener of El Dorado County, originally appeared in the Mountain Democrat in January 2026.
Central Sierra: Seed Starting Using the Winter Sowing Method
Central Sierra: Take Advantage of Winter Dormancy for a Gorgeous Spring Bloom
Winter Dormancy: Gardening For the Fourth Season
The winter holidays are just around the corner, and hopefully you have your garden in order. Spring bulbs are planted. Garlic and potatoes are in the ground. Your garden has been “put to bed.” Tools have been sharpened and put away. Tender plants are mulched and waiting for the anticipated winter rains. Most plants are entering their dormant cycle and you, no doubt, are ready to join them.
Not so fast! Winter in the garden is a time for planting, pruning, and planning.
Take advantage of winter dormancy with bare-root plants
Now is the time to take advantage of winter dormancy. From December through March, your local nursery will have bare-root plants. These are plants that are dug while they are dormant, and they will have their roots exposed. Often, they are more affordable than containerized plants, and they are easier to handle.
You’ll find fruit trees, cane berries, asparagus, artichoke crowns, rhubarb, kiwi, strawberries, grapes, roses, and vines available as bare-root plants. Check with your local nursery early and after the first of the year. This gives you an opportunity to plan your location, prepare the planting hole when the ground is pliable but not soggy and get ready to welcome some new plants into your garden.
Understand the best time to prune
Mark your calendar: January is time for winter pruning, but you’ll want to plan and space your tasks between bouts of precipitation. Perennials that weren’t cut back in fall should be pruned in January. This is also the time to prune cane berries.
Fruit trees require pruning to shape the tree and open the tree center for the spring growth. If you already have fruit trees, January is the time to apply horticultural oil to control scale, mites, aphids, and other insects. Once again, check the weather and make certain that there are at least 24 hours of dry weather around the application.
Design with plant rotation in mind
Now before you relax and reach for the seed catalogues, grab a sheet of paper and make a quick drawing of last season’s vegetable and annual garden. Note where you planted each plant family and think about where you can rotate your plantings for the upcoming year. Plant rotation is an important step in sustainable gardening. Plant rotation builds and sustains helpful soil microbes, reduces the spread of soil-borne disease, helps plants take in more nutrients, and makes for a healthier garden.
The goal with plant rotation is to avoid planting the same plant families in the same location year upon year. Ideally, you will rotate plant families from one bed to another over at least a four-year period.
Planning is important before you shop those seed catalogues, because you don’t want to plan for too many tomatoes or melons if you haven’t set up a good rotation. Learning to identify which plants belong to the same family is your initial task. Tomato, pepper, eggplant, and potato belong together. Cucumber, melon, squash, pumpkins and gourds are related. Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, radishes are another family.
Once you have your families grouped and a rotation schedule established, you can finally kick off your shoes, surround yourself with your seed catalogues, and slip into the gardeners’ relaxed winter dormancy and dream of spring.
This article by Ola Jane Gow, UC Master Gardener of El Dorado County, first appeared in the Mountain Democrat.
Have a Gardening question? Use the “Ask a Master Gardener” button below or call 530-621-5512.
Central Sierra: Pruning Effectively for Strong, Beautiful Trees
Central Sierra: Create a Moonlight Garden
Your Garden in the Moonlight
Have you ever thought about creating a garden that would glow in the moonlight? Wander around your yard some night and consider a place where you could enjoy a peaceful, quiet get-away in the evening and dark. Based on the location and view, consider assorted forms, sizes, growth patterns and specifically the plants themselves, whether they are shrubs, vines, trees, bulbs, ground covers, herbs or flowers. Did you know that some plants flower in the night and moonlight glows brighter on particular tree leaves?
How to Design a Moonlight Garden
To design a moonlight garden, think about seating, night-time garden art, subdued lighting for safety and subtle emphasis, interesting groupings, and a wide and thoughtful assortment of plants in a cluster of pots or in the ground, either fragrant or unscented.
Moonlight glows on tree leaves with reflective surfaces such as the Pacific Madrone, Arbutus menziesii, whose leaves are silver on top and reflective on the undersides. The Olive tree, Olea spp., with their gray leaves and the gnarled appearance of the bark as they age, are beautiful when gently lit. Other plants with gray or silver leaves are the bushy shrub Dusty Miller, low to the ground and fuzzy Lambs Ears, Stachys byzantina, Thyme, and Hosta. Some varieties of Hosta shoot up petite white flowers. Moonlight is most iridescent on white and pastel blooms.
Selecting Plants for a Nighttime Garden
Some examples of plants that flower in the night are the aptly named White Moonflower, Ipomoea alba. The Four O’clock Mirabilis jalapa opens at 4:00 in the afternoon. The Evening Primrose Oenothera speciosa, too, opens in the evening and closes in the morning. The taller Night Phlox ‘Midnight Candy,’ Zaluzianskya capensis, has purple buds that open to reveal glowing white centers. The Daylily, ‘Night Beacon’ Hemerocallis citrina, boasts fragrant blooms in light yellow. The Oriental Lily, Lilium ‘Casa Blanca,’ is magnificent in beauty and fragrance. The three-inch-wide cup of Narcissus ‘Night Cap’ is a stunning yellow, edged in coral. Night-blooming jasmine can be grown as a vine, shrub or groundcover and smells divine day and night, and blooms around June. The White Daffodil, Narcissus ‘Obdam,’ Ice Follies,’ and ‘Thalia’ radiate light in the late evening and early morning.
Think about planting fragrant flowering bulbs like Hyacinth, Freesia, Iris, and Tuberose in the Fall. Also, the gardenia shrub, with its beautiful fragrance blooms in summertime. Spring blooming Clematis armandii ‘Snowdrift’ vine helps round out the year to promote blooming plants in three seasons.
White Plants Seem to Glow in the Moonlight
Other summer blooming, white flowering vines are White Angel’s Trumpet Brugmansia candida, Virgin’s Bower, Clematis virginiana, and White Mandevilla, an exotic white vine. Some lower growing white flowering plants for consideration are the ground cover Beach Morning Glory, Ipomoea imperati, and perennials such as azalea and petunia.
Taller white flowering plants include Shasta Daisy, Chrysanthemum, Tobacco plant, Nicotiana, white oleander, camellia, white sage, the white with yellow center Matilija poppy, and the always popular Rose.
As for trees, keep in mind Dogwood, Cornus kousa, and Magnolia grandiflora feature beautiful white flowers.
When the next moon illuminates the night sky, bundle up and take a stroll around your yard with an eye to where you might create your moonlight garden and imagine the look and fragrance that are possible for your peaceful enjoyment.
This article, written by UC Master Gardener of El Dorado County Kit Smith, originally appeared in Village Life, February 2025.
If you have a question about the best plants for your particular garden, based on your sun exposure, elevation, soil type, or irrigation, you can reach out to the UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County with your questions using our Ask a Master Gardener survey, accessible with a click on the button just below.
