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Margaret Furness 
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Hello I’m relatively new to growing roses here in the southern Cévennes in France. Not quite sure which ‘zone’ we are in but it’s a Mediterranean climate so I’m guessing at least 7 and with the last three or four hot and dry summers with next to little or no winter rain it could be 8 for all we know?
I have a very healthy Souvenir de la Malmaison which I planted as a bare root on Laxa last November and she gave a beautiful first flush of five flowers end of May and now has 27 buds on her ready to bloom which may tax the young canes especially if we have some heavy rain or a storm.
I’d like to take some cuttings in spite of her youth and of course she’s only around 2ft tall and there isn’t much growth and reading here about SDLM not liking much pruning especially at this time I would like some advise although hopefully not to refrain from the idea although I will if taking cuttings now will threaten her health and very existence. Thank you in advance for any help advise.
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#1 of 9 posted
3 JUL 23 by
jedmar
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It depends where in the Cevennes you live. According to the attached map you are probably in Zone 7B
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My knowledge of roses is more theoretical than practical - I avoid pruning as much as I can! It's worth remembering that despite being called a Bourbon, SDLM is more a Tea (and I wouldn't prune either for their first 4-5 years, except to remove dead or crossing-over branches). I would remove many of those buds, to encourage the plant to put its energy into making roots and leaves.
If you want to try cuttings in warm weather, have a look at the technique I use - replace dot with.
wwwdotheritagerosesdotorgdotau/articles/rose-propagation-ziplock-bag-technique/
Good luck!
Others may like to add comments.
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Margaret many thanks for such a prompt reply. I will have a look at your technique and I’m almost certain I read your technique in another thread this morning.
Those 25+ buds have got me excited with anticipation wrongly thinking that I’m some kind of green-fingered rose magician. My heart wants them all to bloom but your advice has just rightly tainted my short-term rose flower thirst and made me think about a healthier plant long-term. Of course if they all bloom the sheer weight will I’m sure pull that young girl almost flat to the ground and extract a huge amount of energy from her roots. It is a real site for sore eyes though.
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Margaret thank you. I’m finding growing roses just incredibly gratifying for all sorts of reasons. Yes I was thinking of pruning both crossing canes and putting them straight into a large pot always in shade and slightly humid and then planted in the ground when autumn gets into swing around late October mid November. I’ll have a good read of your zip-bag technique though I’m trying to limit all use of plastic here as we are in a beautiful protected part of a national park.
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Wise move, to limit plastic.
Almost all my roses are cutting-grown, so when I say I don't prune for 4-5 years, I'm talking about plants that are younger than yours. If your SDLM is budded, it must be already 1 or 2 years older than my babies. So you needn't be as ruthless about removing flower buds as I am with young plants. Still, I would remove some of the buds at this stage.
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Margaret most of the 150-155 varieties of roses planted here are less than 15 months old ( planted) only a handful are 3 years + old and SDLM was planted from a bare-root 25th November last year so she’s only been in the ground 7 months and a week! A bit Young to be taking ‘cuttings’ but I’ll try 2-3 small ones and see. Peter
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Margaret just read through the zip-lick technique and though I’m reluctant to invest in a little more plastic it does appear a good technique for retaining moisture for those critical first few weeks and may eliminate that stress of remembering to periodically water the cuttings. Thank you for that.
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Thank you Jedmar. A little difficult to tell when I zoom in on that map though if I had to take an educated guess I’d say around zone 7A or 7B. Is there no more accurate way say by using latitude longitude coordinates? Again thank you ????????
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#7 of 9 posted
3 JUL 23 by
jedmar
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I am afraid not. The map is based on "Les types de climats en France, une construction spatiale" by Joly et al (2010), available on internet. However, Joly actually uses different climate designations.
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