Should You Cut Back Climbing Roses?

Climbing roses on a trellis

Climbing roses are eye-catching with their vertical beauty as they climb trellises, pillars, walls, arbors and porch posts. They come in a wide variety of colors, from yellows to whites to pinks and reds, with small to large blooms. Cutting back, or pruning, regularly improves the plant's health. When performed at the right times and properly, it prevents diseases, removes dead wood, shapes and limits the growth of climbers, and promotes an abundance of blooms.

Pruning Times

Climbing roses require different pruning times.

Climbers should only be pruned after their first two years of growth. All their energy -- says Paul Zimmerman, rose grower and past president of The Rose Society -- needs to be concentrated on growing to their potential height. Pruning times vary for climbing roses that are ever-blooming -- bloom throughout the growing season -- and once-blooming. However, diseased, dead or damaged wood should be cut back at any time.

Blooming/Pruning Frequency

Ever-blooming climbers -- like Pierre de Ronsard, with large double flowers in pink-and-cream clusters -- should be annually pruned in early spring. In warmer southern climates, pruning should occur in mid or late February; in colder, often mountainous regions, in mid-April. Climbers that bloom only once a season -- like Yellow Lady Banks with clusters of small double flowers -- should be annually pruned after flowering.

Annual Pruning -- First Steps

Begin by removing the foliage from the roses, advises gardening author and landscape designer Andrew Schulman. This rids climbers of dormant, disease-causing fungal spores and enables you to see the branches clearly. Remove any injured or spindly branches as well as older wood that did not bloom well the previous season. Cut back any crossing branches to promote healthy air circulation and branches extending too far past their structure to control shape and height.

Annual Pruning -- Next Steps

White climbing roses covering a pergola

Step back to determine which branches to prune. Select canes with plenty of swelling buds and/or laterals, the side shoots, and ones that will cover the structure appropriately. Begin with the lowest branches, untying one at a time and retying it after it's pruned. Because climbing roses are not true climbers, with extensions that fix onto or wrap around structures, they must be trained to climb with ties.

Pruning Cuts

Each lateral should be cut down to the first two to five buds. This will increase flowering. The cuts should be 1/4 inch above the buds. It should be parallel to the bud and at a slight angle. To produce the best results from cutting back, use sharp, well-cleaned pruners as well as long-handled pruners for hard-to-reach canes. A pruning saw for large old stems is also helpful.

References

• Fine Gardening; Pruning Climbing Roses; Andrew Schulman
• Clemson University Extension: Pruning Roses
• Fine Gardening: Got Young Climbing Roses? Let em Grow!; Paul Zimmerman; November 2010