How To Prune Roses

Nearly all roses need a good, hard late winter or early spring pruning to make sure they don't get overgrown, are healthy, flower well, and overall are growing attractively.

Pruning roses well is an art, but even a beginner can do it as long as you follow a few rules. The basic principle for all rose pruning (except climbers) is to direct all growth outward and upward in a regular and even fashion, keeping the center of the rose bush open so air can circulate, thereby preventing disease and allowing in maximum light to produce maximum flowers.

When to Prune Roses

The vast majority of roses need an annual, major pruning in the late winter or early spring, right when they’re just starting to send out new growth. The new growth is usually little red buds or shoots that will turn into new leaves and stems. Don't wait much longer than that or you'll start interfering with flower production.

Note that you can cut out diseased or dead (black or severely ash gray) wood any time of year.

Understanding New Wood and Old Wood

The vast majority of bush-type roses grow on so-called new wood—that is, they bloom on the new stuff that grew during the current year, the nice, fresh stuff. Therefore, with most roses, you cut them back hard so they'll produce lots of new growth and therefore lots of flowers.

However, some old garden or antique roses as well as some climbing and rambler roses, bloom on old wood—wood that grew the previous year. So you need to be really careful with these since if you cut off most of that old wood, you'll prevent flowers from forming this year.

Roses that bloom on new wood (that's most roses, remember) should be pruned hard in late winter or early spring. Roses that bloom on old wood should be pruned after they bloom, usually mid-summer, giving them enough time to grow more wood for next year.

Confused? If in doubt, go ahead and prune back hard in the spring. The worst case will be that you don't have flowers on the plant that year. And if you don't, you'll know that most likely you have a rose that blooms on old wood and that from here on out, you should prune it as soon as it's done flowering

What to Prune on Roses

Deciding what to cut out from a rose bush is an art. Follow these steps in order:

1) Cut out all completely dead wood, which is black. When you cut into it, the dead center (called the pith) you'll find is also black or pale gray. Wood is still alive if it’s a creamy green, even if the outside is black—as long as the pith is white and firm.

2) Cut out any branches that are rubbing against each other, are crossing each other, or are damaged or diseased.

3) Choose three to six canes as your “keepers.” These canes should not be too thin—at least as thick as a pencil—nor too thick and old. They should also spread outward from an open center. Then remove any other thin, spindly growth on the bush.

4) Cut those "keeper" canes to a height of from 1 to 3 feet, depending on how high you want your rose to grow that year. This is no exact science; but as a rule, cut the rose canes about one-fifth as high as the desired mature height of the rose stalks, longer in warm climates (Zones 7 and warmer). Don't worry about killing the rose. As long as you leave at least a few inches of cane, it will do fine.

Note: Make the cut at the top of the cane so it’s at a 45-degree angle and 1⁄4 inch above an outward-facing bud (see illustration). This assures that new growth will be outward and upward, creating a healthy, pretty shape.

How to Prune Climbing Roses

Climbing roses get a different treatment than bushier roses, and that treatment depends on whether they're one of two types: Ramblers or large-flowered climbers.

Ramblers usually have smaller flowers and grow rampantly, up to 20 feet in a season. If you don’t prune them at all, they’ll grow into a thorny, overgrown thicket.

Ramblers bloom just once a year and do so on old wood grown the previous season. That means that after they’re done blooming, cut the canes back by a foot or so. This encourages fresh, rapid growth this year so they'll have lots of wood to bloom on next year. Tie this new growth to a fence or a trellis to support it and direct its growth upward and outward.

Large-flowered climbers are less vigorous. In their first year, you must train them up the arbor or the trellis they’re planted on. Tie them with soft twine or strips of cut pantyhose. Sometimes you can also carefully weave the pliable stems in and out of the support.

Most large-flowered climbers bloom on new wood, so that means pruning them each late winter or early spring while they're still dormant, or just as they start sending out red buds of new growth. However, in their first two to four years, you won’t need to prune them much at all, other than to remove dead or damaged wood. As the rose grows, prune as needed to shape it and control its height.

Pruning Rose in Mild Climates

In warmer parts of the country, from the Mid-South downward, the Southwest, and the Pacific coast, you'll need to prune roses in a slightly different way. Since these regions don't have harsh winters that kill back much of a rose's growth, each late winter gardeners will need to decide how much of each rose to cut back.

As a rule of thumb, cut back shrub roses and hybrid teas to 2 to 4 feet. Give old garden roses, which bloom on old wood, a light selective pruning throughout, cutting back some of the oldest stems to the base so plants don't get too lanky.

Climbers in warm climates do best if trained on a horizontal plane with each branch cut back to about the place where they're slightly thicker than a pencil. Then cut each side stem that has flowered to the lowest possible five-leaflet stem, about 1 to 2 inches from the main cane. This causes the cane to flower along its entire length for a spectacular display.

Where to Make the Cuts

As a rule, remove all dead and damaged canes (branches). Then remove any rubbing canes. Choose a few thick, strong, new "keeper" branches and then cut away everything else.

Finally, cut back those keeper branches to create a strong, stubby plant. Make all these final cuts so that each is a 45-degree angle, right above an outward-facing leaf bud, sloping upward away from the center of the plant (see illustration below).