By Gaia01
Midlothian, Scotland,
United Kingdom 
My friend has a Queen Elizabeth Rose..a floribunda. It is of huge sentimental value but unfortunately has been left to its own devices for a few years and is now a gigantic mess...lots of old wood, very few flowers and in places about 10 feet tall. Can this be really hard pruned back? Will it survive?
12 Jun, 2012
Answers
Best time to do it is in March.
12 Jun, 2012
i cut mine back fairly hard in Feb, anticipating having to prune out frost damage, but we had none. She was over 6' tall and very leggy. She is now around 4' tall and so bushy. So as Steragram suggests wait until late winter and prune back to around 18".
13 Jun, 2012
Many thanks to you all for taking the time to reply.
13 Jun, 2012
Good luck with Her Madges haircut x
13 Jun, 2012
Previous question
I pruned some 12-year-old Queen Elizabeths hard back a couple of years ago for just that reason. HRH does tend to get very tall! They responded well, but wait and see what others say!
12 Jun, 2012