There is a difference between climbers and ramblers which will affect how and when you prune. As I am not familiar with PM, I cannot help on this one.....but, as a rule, ramblers which bloom on older wood also tend to throw canes from the base...and therefore need pruning after flowering so new wood can ripen for the following season. Climbers, on the other hand, will produce laterals which will often (not always) bloom on new seasons wood...and require the usual spring pruning to keep in shape and health. Vigorous laterals can be swapped about easily, removing gnarly ones and tying newer greener canes in their place. Even so, I would hold off on any pruning as your rose is still young and developing - it has no trouble producing blooms on upright canes that I can see, so wait another season or two and just observe the sort of growth patterns you are getting.

Cutting them back only delays flowering. It doesn't stop it or harm the plants. In fact, cutting them back makes them fuller and invigorates them. Better to cut them back than not. If you've got brown growth with new shoots cut all the brown growth back to the lowest buds even though they are dormant. It will sprount out more vines. All Clematis, no matter what variety they are should be hard pruned the first few years.

Artemis, same here! I must start sorting and discarding--we have the great luxury of over a year's lead time till we retire and transition to living in what is now our vacation house. I must begin working on the mammoth project of clearing out our home of 30 years. We're not hoarders but we have a full house of stuff, as everyone does and it cannot all go down there! I know the hardest things to part with will be the furniture and decor items that just don't belong in the new place; I've lightened up my 'tropical traditional' style considerably in our new house and I love the fresh look I have going down there. But oh it will be wrenching to give up things I've used and loved so long. I"m planning to start with the easy stuff-things that are not sentimental or in use. Friday is commencement day at my university which for those who work in higher ed is the official start of summer :). I'm going to try to discipline myself to either set a timer or make some job slips (clear a shelf/empty a drawer/sort a closet bar) and draw the winning task each evening since I won't be coming home exhausted and fit only to eat dinner and gaze vacantly at HGTV for an hour or so before heading off to bed.

a1an - what kind of battery sprayer did you get? Have been considering one. I have a question regarding pruning on bareroots from Palatine I planted in November. I live in zone 8, about 2 hours from Houston. All are in pots, starting to put out some nice leaves. Looks like we are going to have a mild winter this year - cold temps but not too many freezing days. I prune at Valentines Day. My question is.......do I prune these new potted bareroots or just let them go ahead and leaf out as they are doing now? Or take off several inches and let them start regrowing their leaves? I am tempted to do the latter, but would like some expert opinions. Judith