Pruning is the most important job in rose care: it shapes the bush, decides how many flowers you get and keeps the plant healthy. But hybrid teas, climbers and English roses follow different rules, and getting the timing wrong can cost a whole season of flowers. Here is when and how to prune roses in spring, summer and autumn, how many buds to leave for each group and which tools you need.
Roses flower on young growth. Pruning makes the bush produce strong new stems every year, so you get more and bigger flowers.
Removing dead, diseased and crowded wood improves air flow and reduces black spot and powdery mildew.
Without pruning, the bush turns woody at the base within 2–3 years, flowers only at the tips and may stop flowering. Other causes are in why roses don’t bloom.
How to make a correct cut
Use sharp, clean secateurs wiped with alcohol. A blunt blade crushes the stem and the cut heals slowly.
Cut at 45°, 5–7 mm above an outward-facing bud so new shoots grow outwards and the centre stays open.
Cut back to healthy white or pale green pith, and seal cuts thicker than 1 cm with pruning sealant.
Spring pruning by rose group
Timing: once winter cover is off and buds swell, usually late March to April (earlier in the south, up to early May in the north). Forsythia in bloom is a good cue.
Hybrid teas and floribundas get a hard prune: keep 3–5 of the strongest canes and cut them to 3–5 buds (15–25 cm above the ground).
English and shrub roses get a moderate prune: shorten canes by about a third and remove weak ones. More on varieties in the best shrub rose varieties.
Large-flowered climbers: remove canes older than 3–4 years and shorten side shoots to 2–3 buds. Ground-cover and miniature roses only need tidying.
Summer pruning
Cut spent flowers back to the first full five-leaflet leaf so the bush reblooms faster.
Remove rootstock suckers (leaves with seven leaflets, shoots from below the graft) right at the root, as they drain the variety.
Once-flowering ramblers are pruned straight after flowering by cutting the old flowered canes to the base.
Autumn pruning before winter
Autumn pruning is light: remove leaves, buds and soft green shoots, and shorten canes only to the height of the cover (around 40 cm for hybrid teas).
Climbers and English roses are barely pruned in autumn; take them off their supports and lay them under cover. Step by step in how to prepare roses for winter.
Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.
Birthday
Hydrangeas