How to Prune Roses

Don't be nervous about pruning - there is no evidence that anyone ever killed a plant with pruning shears! To prune roses you'll need the following supplies: sharp curved-edge pruning shears; long-handled lopping shears, and gardening gloves can help protect you from thorns.

Pruning controls the size and shape of rose plants. Generous pruning creates bigger plants and eventually more flowers per plant. Selective pruning of top growth can produce bigger, but fewer, blooms.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pruning Shears
• Fertilizer

1. For modern varieties, pruning keeps them blooming repeatedly all summer long.

2. Well-established hybrid teas, floribundas and grandifloras should be pruned early each spring after the winter protection has been removed and just as the buds begin to swell.

3. Old-fashioned roses and climbers that bloom only once a year should be pruned immediately after flowering since they bloom on wood from the previous year's growth.

4. The first feeding of your roses should be done when the bush first leafs out.

5. For the remainder of the growing season, fertilize after each flush of blooms.

6. Use a commercial rose food or general-purpose fertilizer applied according to manufacturer instructions.

7. Scratch dry fertilizers into the soil beneath the leaves - but not touching the canes or bud union - and water well

Tips & Warnings

• Stop fertilizing about 2 months before the first frost.

Resources

• http://www.rose.org/