It’s about this time every year, after I’ve passed my ugly rose bushes 10 or 12 times, that I Google how to prune them. I’m always second guessing my knowledge, maybe it’s because I live in Portland, and the Rose Test Garden sets a high bar. Your signal that it’s time to prune roses in spring is when you see all the bright yellow forsythia popping up around town. There’s probably a way to tell by your zone too, but that takes research and planning and I don’t do that. Half my roses have already pushed leaves and buds out, but I’m pruning them down anyway, because YOLO.
Here’s an amateur’s guide to pruning roses.
Don’t be afraid to go town on them. Roses have a reputation for being delicate, but the plants themselves are strong and can handle a hard pruning, any mistakes you make will likely grow out.
Roses need to be pruned and it’s good for them. Removing dead wood makes them look clean, prevents branches from breaking and damaging larger parts of the plant and increase air flow! You can also prune out disease, environmental stress and insect damage that the could kill the plant. All of these things encourage flowering, which is the whole point of having roses.
It’s easy. Really it is, all you need are some good hand pruners (and loppers if you have them) and no fear!
Pruning tips:
Wear gloves, because thorns.
Use clean, sharp hand pruners (Kyle says Felco’s are the best) or loppers.
Make clean cuts, don’t tear off branches. If you couldn’t quite get through the cut on the first try, keep going, ripping the branch could cause permanent damage. Loppers are really helpful for this. If your rose branches are too thick and your hand pruners aren’t cutting it (mhmm), then you might need to invest in some loppers (or borrow them from a neighbor on Buy Nothing).
Identify the branch collar, and make your pruning cuts just outside it.
For the branches you’re keeping, make the cuts no more than a 1/2” above the bud at an angle.
It’s time to prune! The goal is to reduce the size by a lot and get your roses down to a foot or two (taller if you like them taller).
Cut out all the dead and very thin branches (at the brand collar).
Clip out all the suckers coming up from the base of the trunk (if there are any).
Remove any cross branches so the bush maintains a round (decurrent) aesthetic.
Remove any old leaves.
Cut the remaining canes down to the lowest outward-facing bud you can see starting to push out.
DON’T seal the ends of anything with glue or whatever. Many people say this can prevent rot and disease, but the best thing to do is keep your pruners clean and monitor your plants, if you see a disease or problem prune it out.
Fertilize your roses! Let’s be honest, no one is going to take a soil sample, so just go to town (or follow the directions on the bag) with whatever rose fertilizer you like or can get at your local plant nursery, because that’s what I would do. (Kyle says this is undermining science, but I’m lazy and want to get on to planting my vegetable garden.)
Be sure to clean up the cut branches, they can keep diseases and pests near your healthy plants, continuing to infect them. Also, it looks nice.
Good luck!