Rose Care
How to Prune Roses
Pruning is the single most important skill in rose growing — and the most misunderstood. Done right, it produces a healthy, open plant that blooms harder and resists disease.
When to prune roses
For most repeat-blooming roses, the main prune happens in late winter to early spring, just as the buds begin to swell but before growth surges — in many regions, about when the forsythia blooms. Once-blooming and rambling roses are the exception: prune them right after they flower, because they bloom on old wood formed the previous year.
Rule of thumb: If it repeat-blooms, prune in late winter. If it blooms once, prune just after that bloom finishes.
What you'll need
- Sharp bypass pruners (not anvil-type, which crush stems)
- Loppers for thick, woody canes
- Thornproof gauntlet gloves
- Rubbing alcohol or wipes to disinfect blades between plants
How to prune, step by step
- Remove dead and damaged wood. Cut out anything brown, brittle, or shriveled back to healthy, white-centered growth.
- Take out crossing and inward-facing canes. Open the center so air and light reach every stem — this alone prevents much disease.
- Cut to an outward-facing bud. Make each cut about a quarter inch above an outward-facing bud eye, angled slightly away from it.
- Reduce the remaining canes. For hybrid teas, shorten healthy canes by a third to a half. Shrub and landscape roses need only light shaping.
- Clean up thoroughly. Rake away every clipping and old leaf; black spot and other diseases overwinter in fallen debris.
Pruning by rose type
Different classes want different treatment. Hard-prune hybrid teas; lightly shape shrub and English roses; prune climbers by tying in and shortening side shoots; and prune once-blooming old and rambling roses only after they flower.