Contact: Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Environmental Horticulture
Posted November 1997
All roses need some type of pruning. If roses are not pruned for a number of years, plants deteriorate in appearance, often develop more than the usual disease and insect problems, and the flowers become smaller and smaller.
Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora, and Floribunda roses require annual pruning in the spring, after winter protection has been removed. As a guideline, follow the old saying that roses are pruned when the forsythia blooms. If rosebushes are pruned too early, injury from repeated frost may make a second pruning necessary.
The only tools necessary are sharp hand pruners and gloves. If the rose collection is large, a small saw and loppers will also help. Loppers are used to cut out large dead canes.
Remove branches that are dead, damaged, diseased, thin, weak, growing inward, and branches that cross or interfere with other branches. Proper pruning encourages new growth from the base making the plant healthy and attractive and resulting in large blossoms. Cut at least 1 inch below damaged areas. Remove all weak shoots. If two branches rub or are close enough that they will do so soon, remove one. On old, heavy bushes, cut out one or two of the oldest canes each year.
Cut back the remaining canes. The height to which a rose should be cut will vary depending upon the normal habit of the particular cultivar. The average pruning height for Floribundas and Hybrid Teas is between 12 and 18 inches, but taller growing Hybrids and most Grandifloras may be left at 2 feet. Make cuts at 45-degree angles above a strong outer bud. Aim the cut upward from the inner side of the bush to push growth outward and promote healthy shoots and quality flowers.
Other types of roses have special pruning needs:
A rose standard, or tree rose, is a Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora, or Floribunda budded at the top of a tall trunk. Prune tree roses as you do Hybrid Teas, cutting the branches to within 6 to 10 inches of the base of the crown in order to encourage rounded, compact, vigorous new growth.
Miniature roses are 6 to 12 inches high, with tiny blooms and foliage. Miniature roses do not need special pruning. Just cut out dead growth and remove the hips.
Old-fashioned rambler roses have clusters of flowers, each usually less than 2 inches across. They often produce canes 10 to 15 feet long in one season. Ramblers produce best on year-old wood, so that this year's choice blooms come on last year's growth. Prune immediately after flowering. Remove some of the large, old canes. Tie new canes to a support for the next year.
Large-flowering climbing roses have flowers more than 2 inches across, borne on wood that is 2 or more years old. Canes are larger and sturdier than those of Ramblers. Many flower just once in June, but some, called ever-blooming climbers, flower more or less continuously. This group should be pruned in autumn, any time before cold weather sets in. First cut out dead and diseased canes. After this, remove 1 or 2 of the oldest canes each season to make room for new canes. The laterals, or side shoots, are shortened 3 to 6 inches after flowering. If the plant is strong, keep 5 to 8 main canes, which should be tied to the trellis, fence, wall, or other support. If it is not strong, leave fewer canes.
(Excerpted from The Virginia Gardener Handbook, Diane Relf, Editor.)