Advice for Rose's in your Garden

Some gardeners get intimidated when it come's time to prune their "rose's". When in fact it is so much easier than they know. Pruning is a important part of getting beautiful healthy roses. And knowing how to cut dead and damaged branches, will result in better air circulation that will prevent disease.

It is also important that you choose the right place for the proning cut, due to this will control the direction of the new shoot growth. When doing any type of pruning it is important to use sharp pruners. Using dull instruments can cause the branches to mangle. In this case disease can then enter your branch also known as "cane".



 Step One: Identify your Type of Rose You are planning to do Pruning on.
The type of rose determines when and how much it is pruned. Hybrid teas, grandifloras, and floribundas need more severe pruning in late winter or early spring. Landscape and shrub roses require less pruning. Climbing roses, which bloom on last year’s growth, are pruned only after they bloom.

 

When you begin pruning make sure the cuts are centered so the rose bush will come open and most of the growth will direct outward. This will also promote good air circulation. Then cut back branches that cross the center of the plant, and any branches that are thinner than a writing pencil. Start with cutting dead and diseased branches, these will be dark in color. Cut these back all the way to the area where branches meet roots. You will want to also cut thick and old canes down to the crown.

It will have to be a decision you make to which branches you will leave standing. But of course it should be the brances that are the healthiest and ones that form a perimeter surrounding the base of the bush. Check for outward buds a foot up from the ground. Then cut above these buds at a 45 degree angle. Doing this will produce new branches from the bud and will then grow outward in a desired shape form.

If you are pruning hybrid tea's, grandifloras or even floribundas, you are going to cut way back. When you are done, you should have a rose bush one foot tall and five to six healthy branches left growing from the base of the bush. Also if you have shrub or landscape roses, cutting these in the same manner will also produce the same results. Except you want to leave more height with these types. For your repeat blooming climbers, you will want to prune those in the spring. These are the easiest, due to the fact they only need to be cut out if they have any bad branches and then pruned to shape them. Your climbers are usually on a trellis or wall so any old growth is beneficial. Climbers will also bloom even with old growth, so be careful when pruning not to cut any off that may flower.

Rose's are very forgiving, so relax if you feel you cut back to much. They usually come back.