How to Prune Roses

Pruning roses is one of those skills you acquire gradually. Rosarians take whole classes to get their pruning skills just so. But the basics are pretty easy - cut out the dead stuff and make sure you're training new growth outward from the shrub's center.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bypass Pruners
• Lopping Shears

1. Prune roses in very early spring after any snow has melted but before much new growth on the roses has started. The best time is when the buds have swelled - that is, the little bumps that will turn into branches have started to grow a bit, forming little buds about the size of a sunflower seed. These swollen buds are usually red.

2. Choose your tools. Hand shears are good for branches 1/2 inch or thinner. For thicker branches, use long-handled loppers, which give you more leverage. You'll probably also want a pair of heavy leather or rose gloves to protect your hands and arms from thorns.

3. Pull away any winter protection, such as burlap, rose cones or mounded soil.

4. 

   Cut out any dead wood first. This wood is blackened all the way through. In contrast, live wood, when cut, will be white in the center. (Live wood is usually a nice, healthy green on the outside, but if it has suffered some winter damage, it may be black on the outside.)

5. 

   Cut away any thin, spindly wood thinner than a pencil (unless the bush is not very vigorous and that's all you have on it).

6. Cut out any branches that cross each other or rub against each other. These can become prime spots for disease invasion.

7. 

   Select four to six remaining thick, sturdy, dark-green upright branches to be the branches that remain on the bush. You want to create a nice vase-shaped bush that is open in the center and has no crossing branches.

8. Shorten these healthy canes to 1 to 4 feet, depending on the mature height of the rose and your personal preferences. (Another way to look at it is to reduce the plant height by 1/3 to 1/2.)

9. Make the proper cut when shortening your roses to ensure healthy, attractive growth. Find a bud that is on the outside of the wood (faces away from the center of the bush). Make a cut at a 45-degree angle sloping inward to the center of the bush. Cutting right above an outward-facing bud encourages new growth outward, which is important for good shrub shape and circulation.

Tips & Warnings

• Use bypass pruners (which cut like scissors) rather than anvil-type pruning shears (which have a blade that crushes the stem against a flat surface). Crushed stems are more susceptible to disease.
• Some roses, notably climbers, bloom only on growth from the previous year, which is called the old wood. Try to find out what type of rose you have and proceed accordingly. If in doubt, let the rose grow unpruned for one year and keep an eye on it throughout the season. If it blooms only on the new stuff, you know you have a rose that blooms only on new wood.

Resources

• How to Prune Roses

[melgrimes]

on 5/28/2009 Very helpful.. Thank you. I prune mine during the Super Bowl.

[abigail]

on 5/30/2007 Awesome article! I never know quite where to prune, and consequently get pretty inconsistent 'hit and miss' results. I can't wait to put this article to the test - thanks!

on 11/22/2005 I've lived in California my whole life, and my grandfather always told me, if you want to be sure to have roses for Easter, spend your time New Year's Day pruning your roses. I've NEVER missed a New Year's Day pruning session and ALWAYS have Easter roses.

on 11/22/2005 A drop of wood glue on cut canes will keep the cane bores from getting in.