Gardening Question - Decorah,IA

I don't cut my roses back til very early spring. I think our winters here in upstate NY are similar to yours, right? I cut them back mid March or so and work an all purpose weed and feed in around the roots.

Hollyhocks are biennial so whether you cut them back or not you may have a ZILLION next year or you may have none. Depends how long they've been there. Depending on the variety they may reseed themselves so watch what "weeds" you pull out in the spring.

:)

I don't cut back my roses until it gets REALLY cold here in Tx. Meaning, before it might freeze, if ever! I usually cut them back right before spring.

Stop by a good locally owned nursery to ask about the best time to cut plants back. They may have a handout that includes diagrams on how to trim the rose bushes so they look good and bloom well in the spring. While the plants are dormant, you can also put some natural oil stuff on the bare branches (can't remember the product name) to ward off pests and plant diseases like mildew.

Regarding the hollyhocks (I love them but get weevils on mine!), here's what I found:

"When flowering is finished cut back the tall stem at ground level to prevent the chance of hollyhock rust overwintering.

You may be lucky and get blooms the following year."

this from:http://www.garden-grower.com/flowers/hollyhock.shtml

You can look there for more particulars. Up here in Oregon, we tend to trim last year's roses around President's Day or so for good growth and blooms. (I used to have 30 rose bushes... it was always a busy time of year!)

http://www.rosemagazine.com/pages/pruning.asp

it depends on where you live, but some good info here for the roses

You can wait on bought of them unless it seems to be getting real cold real fast. You should have a couple weeks or more yet. I'm not sure exactly of your weather there in Iowa but I'm pretty sure this is good advice. I'm in Ga. but we wouldn't cut back till late Oct or even Nov.

It won't hurt them if you cut them back now but they will just grow again before it gets cold. So then you have to cut them back again.

You need to wait until you are getting down around 30 at night regularly, otherwise they just keep growing. Then again the past few winters they have done it anyway.