Pruning Your Rose Bush, Part 1

When I got back from church after setting up the prayer stations for our Ash Wednesday service, I realized it was too nice of a day to stay inside. So naturally I went grocery shopping first and then did the dishes when I got home. But right after that, I went outside to start pruning our rose bushes.

We have two types of roses, modern hybrid teas and carpet roses, and today’s blog will focus on the hybrid tea. In tomorrow’s blog, I will discuss the carpet rose, as well as tips for Old Garden Roses and climbing roses, both of which I do not have much experience with, but know a little about.

For as many ways as there are to prune roses, there is an equal and opposite reason not to do it that way. So what is a person to do with all this confusion? Personally, I take all sides, and do what works best for that particular growing season, or bush, or variety. This all takes a lot of experience, and unfortunately I’ve only got a little over twenty years of experience with roses. I will try to list the basics and their reasons, and I will also teach you what I’ve come to learn and hopefully, with all the knowledge you also may have with your roses, you will have a successful blooming season.

The following are the basics most new rose owners are taught, or at least learn after planting or inheriting roses. Mind you, these are still perfectly fine, but it is kind of like cooking… first time you follow the recipe, and thereafter you decide to play around with it. I’ve also included my tips or recommendations after.

First, for those of us in seasonal climates, take note when new growth starts to form after a dormant winter. If you are still getting below freezing temperatures at night, you will want to hold off, but if you are in the mid-thirties or higher, any time between the middle of February until the first week or two of March is a good time to prune those bushes back. Any later than that and you could negatively impact when your roses will bloom, but that is highly unlikely to happen with most hybrid tea varieties, but you run the risk with any heirlooms. Colder climates may need to wait until April. How far? You will want to take it down to about twelve inches or so. It doesn’t have to be exact, so don’t worry about tagging along a tape measure, just eyeball it.

Many books will tell you to prune just above a new growth node, a tiny bump that may or may not have started to leaf out, but I have found that my roses will make new shoots from just about wherever I cut them, so maybe for novices this is a good idea, especially for a newly planted specimen. It is a good idea to prune the shoots at an angle, say forty-five degrees, but any angle will work. This is to prevent moisture buildup on the newly cut stem, which in turn will cause that stem to rot, and also promotes the rose to callus over the cut more quickly. Now that you’ve pruned your bush down, be on the lookout for dead shoots and cut them off as close to the base as possible. Also, if you see any stems crossing each others paths too closely or if they are touching, cut one of them, usually the one growing somewhat sideways. Now comes the hard part… pruning out all of those little shoots and stems. Long thin stems are not strong enough to support a rose bud and will droop and look awful, so it is best to cut out any skinnies, leaving the thickies.

And lastly, prune the center. Your rose bush should have plenty of room for new growth, and since they require sun and plenty of airflow to remain healthy, it is best to prune out as much of the center as possible. If the bush is large enough, you can leave one to three center shoots, but for newer roses, just have the outside branches and cut out any center shoots. Yes, now it looks naked and frail, but this will guarantee good, healthy growth. I also find that now is a good time to fertilize, so I put out a small handful of Epsom salt and a shovelful of compost, slightly working it into the ground. Slow release fertilizers can be used too in addition to the Epsom salt.

Please note these tips are for your hybrid tea roses, and pretty much any modern rose that has been developed from the China rose, which possesses the everblooming trait we have become accustomed to seeing in our roses. The only non-China rose that is everblooming is the Portland rose, which was thought to be a cross with the China rose, but DNA testing has shown that it has no Asian ancestry and is the first European rose to have the everblooming trait. Sorry about getting all technical, I do that from time to time. Hybrids require hard pruning in early spring because of their growth patterns. If left unpruned, you will find that they will not only fall short in blooms, but could make them rather unsightly as older shoots die off, and some new ones don’t make it through the winter. And one more thing, roses don’t have thorns, they have prickles, and are just outgrowths of the stems, whereas true thorns are modified stems. But don’t worry, I still call them thorns as I pluck them out of my forearm while pruning.

Again, tomorrow I will be leaving tips for carpet roses, and a little info on Old Garden Roses and climbing roses, so please come back if you have these varieties, or plan on getting any this year.