Tree Maintenance

You are here > Home > Council A-Z > Tree Maintenance > Rose Pruning Tips

Rose Pruning Tips

Here are some tips from our Parks Team on the best way to care for your roses. Also check out our tips for pruning fruit trees and lawn care.

Pruning speeds up the natural process of new, vigorous, disease-free shoots developing to replace old, weakened stems. This will give you attractively shaped bushes with the optimum display of blooms.

In general:

The main prune should take place once the frosts have past, from July to early August. This is because pruning stimulates rapid new growth, which is susceptible to frost damage.
Avoid pruning in wet, moist, damp or humid conditions as this causes water to get into the pruning wounds, which takes away a protective layer and increases the risk of infection (e.g. die-back, silver leaf, bacteria and fungi, etc).
It takes three hours for the pruning wound to seal properly, so make sure that rain is not expected to fall within this three-hour period.
When pruning, remove all of the three Ds: Dead, dying and diseased wood.
Cut to an outward-facing bud with a cut that slants away from the bud.
Remove any thin, unripe canes.
Prune to a vase shape, leaving five to seven canes.
Remove any root stock suckers.
Sharpen and clean all tools between rose varieties, to stop the spread of disease.

Hybrid tea roses

Remove half to one-third of the growth.
Remove all weak and inward-growing branches. Older canes that have become woody can be removed if there are adequate new, healthy canes.
Cut to an outward-facing bud with a cut that slants away from the bud.
Standards can be pruned to create a bowl shape with an open centre.

Floribunda and polyantha roses

Floribundas are grown as bushes, standards or climbers, while polyantha are grown as bush roses.

Flowers are produced at the tips of the canes.
These roses do not need to be pruned as hard as hybrid teas.
Remove about one-quarter of the growth.

Climbers

For climbing hybrid tea and floribunda roses, young plants are best left unpruned for two years until the canes are established on the support structure – however dead, dying and diseased canes should still be removed during this time.
In the following years, cut back the laterals to a node, leaving two or three buds.
Canes older than four years should be removed to the base as long as there are new canes coming on.

Ramblers

Ramblers produce strong-growing shoots that flower in the second year and are then removed as they cease to be productive – unlike climbers, which produce long-lived flowering stems.
Ramblers should have the flowering stems cut back to their base immediately after flowering in summer.

Miniatures

These generally need only light pruning back to a node using pruning shears, to give a balanced vase shape.

Groundcovers

These can be trimmed back to keep them compact.
Use pruning shears to cut back to a node.

Getting rid of you rose green waste

Transfer stations accept rose canes as green waste, or you can compost them at home.

We prefer that rose canes are not thrown out in the general rubbish – however if this is the only option available, please wrap the canes in enough newspaper so that the thorns can not puncture the rubbish bags and injure the rubbish contractor.

Safety first!

Wear safety glasses when handling roses to prevent any chance of eye damage from canes that protrude or that flick back as you work around them.
Leather gloves should be worn at all times to prevent blisters and hand injuries caused by thorns and using hand tools.
Reduce the chance of being injured by the repetitive action of pruning by:
- Periodically changing the task you are doing.
- Selecting the correct tool for the task.
- Keeping your tools sharp and in good working order.
Maintaining the same posture, e.g. crouching, can cause muscular damage, so make sure to stretch regularly while in the garden.
Back and shoulder strain can be reduced by positioning your body around the rose and not over-stretching your posture.
To lessen the chance of ankle strains, be aware of uneven surfaces and wear lace-up boots.
Puncture wounds/scratches can be avoided by:
- Wearing gloves, long sleeves, long pants and eye protection.
- Not moving rapidly while pruning.
- Carefully removing your hand from the rose bush (the time when most puncture wounds occur).
- Using knee pads or foam kneeling pads.
During summer, avoid bee stings by wearing gloves and checking any flowers for the presence of bees.