Hot Weather

Happy Christmas everyone!
Most of my roses are looking very sad at the moment- sort of like they've been attacked by a blow torch, and I feel very sorry for the poor things. We stopped at Cowra on the way back from Canberra on Sunday, the car said it was 42, the hot wind made it feel more! We stretched our legs walking around the lovely rose garden at the information centre and all of the roses there had been cooked as well. Two Aussie roses were actually looking good; Titian was not as badly affected as most others, and the perfume was magnificent. Lorraine Lee had no flowers but she was managing to look lovely and fresh with lots of new growth, very pretty and green!
Now a question, I always seem to get this wrong, when should I cut back my roses so they will have a rest over the hot weather and come back flowering when the worst is over? I'd appreciate some advice.
Hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and gets all the rose books they've asked Santa for! Thanks so much for all the great photos and advice shared on the forum.

Debbie how many flushes go you normally get after your winter pruning and how many have you had up to this point.

Oh dear, I don't really know! I've started taking a great deal more notice of my roses since meeting you lovely people. I do know that most of my roses are in the midst of their second flush at the moment, and those are the flowers that have been burnt off, or come out prematurely as poor weak little things. Souv de L.Mais. was covered last week in these tiny little perfect blooms about an inch or two across, but all dry and shrivelled by afternoon.

Debbie, in Parkes, I would assume that you would get upto 4 flushes a season. This will depend on the time that you pruned. Flowering can be adjusted according to your needs. If you prune hard they will take to long to come back, a light trim will work and I would not be surprised if they came back in "around" six weeks. The other option would be to "tip" prune, which entails taking the sent blooms down the stem a couple of leaflets/buds. The eyes at this point will have started to develop. Hope this helps.

In the hot weather I would just deadhead the roses, as David has described above, and maybe clean up any dead/sick stems.

Thank you David and AD, I think that's where I've always gone wrong - I get a bit carried away with the secateurs! I seem to remember every year feeling terribly depressed at all the ruined flowers and thinking maybe I shouldn't bother growing roses at all, maybe should learn to love cacti, or even better - plastic flowers like my dear sister! And then in autumn I'm in love again, and my friends are laughing at me and saying:" I thought you said you weren't buying any more roses - you said that last year as well, you just can't help yourself!" And I can't.
So I'll just give everyone a very light trim and I might get 2 more flushes, David? That would be great, I think I usually only get one.
I've started a set of 'progress notes' for each individual rose, putting in at least once a month how they are going. It's really interesting, and I've learned a lot already.
Happy Christmas, it's a lovely cool morning here in Parkes, and has just started sprinkling rain!!! Hope it's headed your way David.

Happy Christmas, it's a lovely cool morning here in Parkes, and has just started sprinkling rain!!! Hope it's headed your way David.
Debbie you can have some of it, but don't forget it is the time of year for sharing.   

Debbie....just trim to the second 5 leafer down from the bud....