Tips For
Pruning Roses Correctly...

Pruning Roses For Blooms

Pruning is essential to keeping your rose bushes well shaped and for most types of roses pruning can keep your plants blooming throughout the growing season.

Proper pruning will lead to larger plants and more flowers. When pruning roses, remember to cut at least as far as the stem node when removing spent blooms – farther is better.

Don’t worry about hurting your roses; pruning hasn’t killed a rose bush yet.

When pruning you'll need the following supplies: sharp curved-edge pruning shears; long-handled lopping shears; and leather gardening gloves.

Pruning Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Grandifloras

When pruning, remove the oldest canes first – this allows the plant to focus on new growth, leading to fresh and healthy looking bushes.

One thing you’ll discover when you learn rose gardening is that twiggy, tangled growth in the midst of a bush can lead to disease. It prevents proper air circulation, blocks light and should always be removed when seen.

Prune your well-established Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and Grandifloras in autumn to about 2-2½’ in height.

Prune them once again in early spring, just as the buds are swelling to around 12-15”. If you live in a region which is especially windy, pruning roses of this height is very important in fall to keep the plant from having its roots loosened by wind.

Pruning Miniature Roses

With miniature roses, remove all diseased, dead or damaged wood, followed by thinning any tangles. You can also opt to cut out all but the very strongest stems and reducing the plant’s height by one third.

In milder climates, this is a better way to prune these varieties.

Pruning Roses That Are Climbers & Spring-Bloomers

If you are growing varieties of roses which bloom only once per growing season, you will need to prune them right after they have flowered.

This is because they bloom on wood from last year’s growth. If they are not pruned, then climbing varieties will just grow vertically, not producing many flowers.

By pruning and training the canes, you can produce a more fan-like shape for the plant and encourage blooming.

You should not prune these plants in the first two years after you have planted them; instead, train the canes onto supports.

After the first two years, begin pruning to discourage vertical growth – this is a process which will take a while (much like learning rose gardening itself) but will eventually bring about a good amount of blooms.

Any damaged canes should be removed and the main branches pruned at the tips to prevent overgrowth. The idea is to create a balanced shape and to encourage the plant to grow horizontally to produce more flowers.

If the base of the plant begins to look bare, then cut half of the older shoots to about 10” from the base of the plant – this will encourage new growth.

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