PRUNE YOUR ROSES TO BOOST YOUR HOMES CURB APPEAL

By
February 25, 2021

How to prune your roses to produce beautiful spring blooms

Spring is just around the corner and so are beautiful blooms! 

One of the most rewarding DIY home projects is planning, planting and maintaining your flower beds and rose garden, giving you the satisfaction of adding beauty and curb appeal to your home. 

February is an excellent time to prune your roses or even to plant new rose bushes.  Pruning your roses while the plants are dormant allows you to control the shape as well as remove dead or damaged canes.  Pruning also encourages those beautiful spring blooms.  

Hybrid tea and grandiflora roses need to be trimmed this time every year to prevent them from becoming too leggy and unattractive. 

Other types of roses such as floribunda, polyantha, landscape and ever-blooming old garden roses, require less drastic pruning.  But it is still a good idea for you to prune to improve their shape and to control their size and of course to remove dead or damaged canes. 

Always use the correct tools when pruning your roses.  These include: sharp bypass-type hand pruners allowing for clean cuts and minimal damage to the stems or canes, leather gloves and long sleeves.  For larger canes one-half inch or greater in diameter, you should use loppers. 

HOW TO PRUNE YOUR ROSES

 First, prune all of the dead and diseased canes, cutting them back to the point of origin.  Any canes that are weak or spindly and less than the size of a pencil should be removed as well.  Trim additional canes to open up the bush leaving four to eight strong healthy canes which are at least the diameter of your finger.

Make your cuts about one quarter of an inch above the dormant bud.  Choose a bud along the cane that faces outward or away from the center of the bush.  The new stem that is produced will grow outward allowing your rose bush to be open for light and air to reach the center making for a healthy bush as well as more blooms.  Make sure that you maintain a pleasing shape while making your cuts.

Knock Out roses can be cut back one-third of the size of the original bush.  If your bush is overgrown (these can grow to be 6 feet tall and wide) cut two-thirds of the size of the original bush, but do not cut the bush to less than 18 inches from the ground.   

The only roses that you will NOT want to prune now are your once-blooming roses which are generally grown on arbors, fences or a trellis.  These roses bloom from spring to early summer from the previous year’s cane growth.   Pruning now would remove the canes that will produce your blooms. Wait to prune these bushes in midsummer to remove wayward canes, shaping and training your rose bush to grow where you choose.  

February to April is also an excellent time to plant new rose bushes.  Roses need a sunny well prepared bed that has excellent drainage. 

Taking the time to maintain your roses now will pay off when the weather starts to warm up and those spring flowers start to blossom!