Patio Rose

I take it the container is not allowed to dry out. Have you checked near the base of the buds to make sure the Rose Midge has not laid eggs in the buds.

It could indeed be overwatering, Lesley. Overwatering actually produces the same symptoms in plants as underwatering.

It's getting a bit late but, my (hybrid tea) roses will be cut down in the next few days - I'll be cutting the stems just above the second nodes from the bottom of the plant, taking out any shoots that are crossing and rubbing on other stems and also remove any stems that are discoloured. I had a patio rose which was about 2ft tall but it sprawled everywhere the little hair like thorns were a nightmare, but I cut it back like a hybrid tea rose and it came back just as vigorous. I will feed with blood, fish and bone. Maybe others can advise you on different methods they use.

I think you'll be fine pruning it now libralady, I did a couple in pots a few weeks ago pretty much as daisy says but I didn't cut mine back as hard as they are still quite small & had some lovely fat buds & new leaves on them so I just tidied them up & cut down to decent outward facing buds.

I trimmed back my blue rose today should have I cut them back harder as they do grow tall I stick the cuttings in a tub as they do grow again

Sue I coundt find my entry for roses anyhow shall I cut them back hard as they do grow so tall

One of my blue roses has already shot up about 2 foot since it was pruned joysie21 so I bet yours will be fine. If your clematis has just finished flowering then it must be one of the early ones, maybe a montana? You don't normally prune those but if you want to keep it under control you can cut off the long shoots you don't want now so that it has plenty of time to form new growth & buds for next year. You'll be best checking exactly what variety of clematis it is as they all require different methods of pruning at different times of the year.