How to Prune a Rosebush

Practice makes perfect when it comes to pruning your rose bushes. All it takes is time and experience to have you trimming like a professional gardener. Don't worry about damaging or butchering your roses. There is no pruning mistake that won't "grow" away.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pruning shears
• Heavy gloves
• Knife
• Sealing compound

1. Know when to prune. Prune your rosebushes once they are dormant or after the last frost of spring. Older roses should be pruned after they have bloomed.

2. Clear the area of anything that may house bugs and sickness, such as grass and foliage.

3. Remove any dead wood or branches in the middle of the plants.

4. Keep healthy canes. Unhealthy, aged, slim or broken canes or those with deep grooves should be pruned. Green healthy canes or those growing in the bud should not be touched. If an entire cane must go make the cut close to the bud union.

5. Use pruning shears to make clean and smooth cuts at a 45-degree angle one-quarter inch above a leaf bud that points towards the outside of the plant. Continue pruning until the inner portion of the cane is white.

6. Remove any suckers. Pull them off the plant beneath the graft to prevent their return.

7. Finish it off. Coat all cuts with a sealing compound to ensure your rosebush stays healthy.

Tips & Warnings

• Prune from the base of your rosebush to the top.
• Tour a public rose garden and look for specimens of roses you are growing. Notice how the gardeners have pruned roses similar to yours, and try to find out when the gardeners will be working with the roses so you can watch.