David Austin's rose, ENGLISH GARDEN.

By Carolyn Parker

IN EARLY DECEMBER, while visiting my friend Julia in her pretty condo living room, her rosebushes kept stealing my attention.

There were just two, JULIA'S ROSE and ENGLISH GARDEN, center stage on a deck no wider than the sliding glass doors that framed them. Growing in handsome cream ceramic pots, the two roses had been recently pruned. Without leaves, and only their structures visible, they looked like exquisite sculptures.

My rose consciousness bubbled and expanded a few notches. The stark skeletons usually remind me of absence and desolation, not the elegance and affirmation that Julia's roses exuded.

Yes, this is my annual rose pruning article. For the next three months in the Northern Hemisphere, newspaper columns, magazines, rose journals and newsletters will be containing instructions on how to prune your roses. It's a venerable tradition, and one I will acknowledge with my own few cents.

This year, I began pruning earlier than usual, because a noxious wave of blackspot and rust swooped into my rose beds, caused by temperature change and our December rains. As I write this in the waning days of December, 77 bushes have been pruned.

What a good feeling. And thanks to Julia, I think they look gorgeous. As I pruned away the final stages of a year's growth, I admired each rose, as bare bones emerged.

I reduced the height of all the shrubs by about a third, and generally made my cuts above a growth point facing out, to encourage a nicely fanned shape. Next, I cleared out the center by cutting away crossing stems and twiggy growth, and removed gnarly old canes. I then removed all the remaining leaves and raked up the old leaves that littered the ground so the fungus wouldn't further contaminate the soil.

Those are the basics. You can then go on to further refine your approach to the needs of specific specimens and how they relate to the size of your garden.

Old garden roses require different treatment than hybrid teas; shrub roses require less pruning than floribundas; it goes on and on. There are also different philosophies on how to prune. I actually think about it throughout the year, and I'm always on the lookout to see how others prune their roses.

Even though I've pruned hundreds of roses for more than 20 years, this year I'm going to actually treat myself to a pruning seminar by Gregg Lowery, owner of Vintage Gardens. I'm told I will be enlightened by his take on the subject, and I do have a few burning questions.

In the meantime, I have two pruning stories from my garden that might interest you, or inspire a different approach to a particular rose you might have. The first regards the famous Damask rose, MADAME HARDY.

While in England, I saw a very small shrub of this rose growing in an ancient churchyard. Bubbling with white blooms, it couldn't have been sweeter. I'd often wondered why the rose was so small, because mine is long and lanky.

For five years, I pegged the canes into a big round shrub, covered in bloom. Last year, since the shrub blocked the view of other roses, I wanted a new look, and simply cut all the canes about 2 feet high. This year, it occurred to me that since the canes are thin and freely sprouting, they can also be cut to the ground with no harm done.That must be why the church rose was so small. So I cut it way back and will let you know how it responds in next year's pruning article.

The other rose I want to mention is the Hybrid Perpetual LOUIS XIV. It's a loose little shrub with distinctly dark maroon blooms. For a couple of years, since the canes were so thin, I reduced it by half with mixed results. Last year, I decided not to prune it at all, and the shrub thrived, with a constant stream of blooms.

Pruning offers unique opportunities for learning new ideas and making interesting changes in your garden. Being open, experimental and flexible is my best advice.

Julia's living room is ivory and beige, with lots of mirror and crystal. As her "rose sculptures" break into leaf, I'm sure they provide happy entertainment. In full bloom, the peachy-beige tones of the two roses are the crowning glory of her design scheme.

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