Pruning Rose Bushes

Caring for rose bushes involves knowing how to get the best out of the plants.

By selective pruning, you can increase the size of the plant and the number of blooms.

Pruning the bush removes the dead or diseased growth, encourages healthy new growth, gives you more blooms, and balances the size and shape of the plant.

Annual Pruning

The annual prunning depends on when the rose blooms.

Old garden roses, some ramblers and climbers, spieces roses and shrub roses that flower on second season wood, get pruned right after they finish flowering.

In warmer climates, you will prune more heavily to stimulate new growth and get larger flowers.

In cold climates, roses are pruned lightly, just eliminating the dead wood.

A Good pair of

gardening gloves

are a must!! Rose thorns are not very forgiving if your hands and arms are unprotected!

It is a very wise investment to make if you are a rose gardener. Whether you're trimming canes, or tying them up, you'll need to protect your skin. When I first started gardening, I couldn't afford anything put those light (cheapo-depo) ones, and let me tell you....The thorns poke right through!!Ouch...

How to Prune

Cut away any dead wood.

Remove any spindly or weak canes.

Remove canes that grow in toward the center of the bush.

Leave 6-8 strong healthy canes.

Remove any suckers from below the bud union. (suckers are thin canes that grow from beneath the thick wood part of the cane)

Always use sharp pruners! A dull pruner will rip the cane, causing injury to the plant.

Make all pruning cuts on a 45 degree angle, 1/4 in. above a dormant bud eye.

Seasonal Pruning

Pruning Rose Bushes durning the growing season,(Deadheading) is necessary to keep the flowers coming.

If you leave the spent flowers, they will swell into seed pods called hips. If they stay on the canes, the flowers stop.

By caring for rose bushes accurately, and pruning regularly you can increase the number of blooms the bush will produce.

When the flower is gone by: Make a diagonal cut on the stem about a 1/4 inch above the upper leaf of a pair of five-leaflet leaves.

By cutting here, you will stimulate the growth of a new stem from the bud eye at the base of the upper leaf. Usually a flowering stem will also grow from the base of the lower leaf.

Do you see how you can turn one flowering stem into two?

If you rose blooms in clusters:

One or two blooms will fade before the others. Snip these out. When the entire cluster has faded, snip out the entire cluster making sure to make the cut above the first leaf with five leaflets. Also make sure that it faces outward, away from the center of the bush.

As the flowers fade, keep cutting them in this manner throughout the season.

Don't be afraid to cut your roses!

Just always cut 1/4 inch above the pair of five-leaflet leaves. If you cut above a three leaflet one, the new growth will be small and weak.

In late fall, stop cutting off spent blooms. The hips will form, signaling to the plant to stop flower production and go into dormancy.

After pruning rose bushes, collect all pruning debris and remove it to prevent the spread of disease and insect pests.

When I first started growing roses,I would be afraid to cut off too much, but then one spring, I had a bush that draped over a low fence that was really out of control, so I thought, I need to give this bush a REALLY good trim, even if I have to sacrifice flowers. I was Shocked when that bush bloomed more than it ever had!

Tip for Northern Gardeners

Watch for the Forsythia bushes to bloom, thats when you should prune your roses!

Find out about Pruning rose Bushes that are Climbers