The decorations are down and if the tree still hasn’t made it into the brown bin why not place a few cut branches over any tender plants to protect them, as pine makes excellent winter mulch.

I see the Linton Zoological Gardens in Cambridgeshire are making good use of their old Christmas trees as fuel in the bio-burners, replanting them in the snowy owl enclosure and giving them to the lions as toys, they seem to love them.

Rose pruning for better blooming

This month we can still get out to do a touch of garden maintenance, rose pruning being one job that is best done in the dormant season (November to March).

Rose pruning is not a job to do in a hurry, you need to ponder, step back and deliberate, rather than rushing in with the secateurs. The aim being to encourage the rose to produce healthy and vigorous new growth on a good framework for buds to form giving you plenty of flowers.

Initially you will need to remove the three Ds … Dead, Damaged or Diseased branches, also any that are crossing or congested. Then you can go on to prune as each variety requires:

Climbers and Ramblers require slightly different treatment – climbers you should retain the old flowered growth (unless it is damaged or diseased), as they are not as vigorous as ramblers you don’t need to cut them back as hard.

Prune spurs to two buds retaining new growth. If you need to regenerate a leggy plant you can cut a quarter of the older stems. Ramblers however flower best on new wood so remove all old flowered wood to the base where a new growth emerges. Prune side-shoots to one or two buds.

Standard Roses are a great addition in a border as they add height; they are created by the chosen rose variety being budded on to a long cane rootstock. Thin and open up the crown, creating a good framework for better air circulation.

For Hybrid Tea, Floribunda and English roses you are better to wait until early March when all risk of frost has gone.

The aim is to create an open-centred goblet shape to allow good air circulation also as standard roses.

Prune stems of Hybrid Tea back to three or four buds above last year's cut, just above an outward-facing bud. Floribunda or cluster flower and English Roses should only go back to four to six buds above last year's pruning point.