How to Properly Trim Rose Bushes

Rose bushes add a distinctive style to any landscape. Rambling roses produce an abundance of sweetly scented blooms in a wide variety of colors. And formal plantings carefully trimmed and pruned maintain a specific shape. Whether you are looking to trim your roses to revive them and encourage lush new growth or you simply wish to keep the overall shape of your bush, rose pruning is easy if you follow a few basic guidelines.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sharp pruning shears
• Gloves

1. Determine the growing habits and blooming time of your roses. This may require observation for a year or consulting a nursery for growing instructions for the specific species of rose you are growing.

2. Trim roses that bloom on the past year's growth immediately after blooming to avoid nipping off young buds that will form next year's blooms. Prune roses that bloom on new growth in early spring just as leaf buds begin to form.

3. Remove any dead or damaged canes. Cut on an angle with sharp pair of pruning shears. Cut away overgrown branches that extend beyond the basic shape of the bush by cutting back to the level of other branches.

4. Selectively cut away all by five or six healthy canes to open up the center of the bush and provide air circulation. This reduces disease and allows sunlight to reach the inside of the bush.

5. Trim branches to the desired height by cutting on a 45-degree angle approximately ¼-inch above buds that face the outside of the plant. This encourages new growth to form on the outside of the branch.

6. Remove suckers from the base of the plant by cutting back to ground level. Clip away any spindly shoots that are less than 1/4-inch in diameter.

7. Maintain a regular schedule of trimming to keep your rosebush in shape and to encourage new growth.