Question
I have another question, Lynette.  Last year I put in 2 "Flower Carpet" rose plants. They did fine.  I pruned them back  to  'half size' in early spring( April),  as the instructions said, and I fertilized them in May with a 'bloom booster' variety of food. The growth on one is giving a more bushy appearance now,  about 12" in diam.  , but on the other one I have some long stems that have just taken off  from  its 12"  bush and are about 2 1/2 ft. long in different directions. There  are buds, ready to open in a clump. at the very end of the long (leafed)  stems. Really strange looking. Did I do something wrong or is this just the growing habit of this type of rose?  The literature stated that it is a 'ground cover rose' so maybe it is normal to spread like this?  Should I prune back those stems after they finish blooming to help the bush keep its shape or let it just branch out like it wants to do?

Answer
When you prune back a landscape type of rose hard, it should make a bushier type plant, theoretically that is. However some roses just get made at the hard pruning and are activated into extra vigorous growth as the second one of yours has done. Wait until it flowers and then prune the extra long canes back even with the rest. However, I think I would bear in mind that this rose is always going to get even with you when you prune it hard and send long, tall canes out. For that reason I would cut them back lower than the others on the bush to try and even them up with the rest. Then there is the other answer, and  that is you could not fertilize the rouge rose and see if that tames him down.