Pruning is essential for the health and beauty of your rose. The basic aim is twofold: to remove dead, older, and damaged growth and to shape the plant. Many beginners are terrified at the prospect at first, but by following some simple guidelines anyone can master the necessary techniques.

Equipment, Techniques, and Tips

Here are some general rules before you get started. As with any rule, there are exceptions, but we'll go into those in more detail when we discuss the different rose types.

Use a pruning shear that has a scissor action in order to make clean cuts. Many people swear by their Felcos. Whatever brand you use, make sure it is clean, sharp, and well-oiled before getting down to business. For thick canes, you'll need to use a lopper or a pruning saw.

Make your cut at an angle (so that water won't collect) about a quarter of an inch above a bud which is facing outward. A new cane will develop and grow from the bud in the direction the bud is facing.

The purpose of pruning is to remove dead, damaged or diseased wood. How can you tell good wood from bad? Well, one way is to examine the inside of the cane after each cut. The core tissue, or pith, should be white or light green in color.

If you live in an area where caneborers are present (their calling cards are holes bored through the middle of a cane), seal each cut you make. Inexpensive and safe sealers are white glue and lipstick. There are more expensive products on the market that are formulated for this purpose, but read the label carefully. If a label doesn't specifically recommend the product's use for roses -- don't.

Know Your Rose

It's a beautiful early Spring day. The forsythia is in bloom. You say to yourself, "Time to prune!" But before you grab the Felcos and attack those roses, be sure you know what type of rose you're dealing with. Roses that repeat their bloom later in the season should be pruned in the Spring (see Pruning Repeat-blooming Roses). Those that bloom only once in the season should be pruned after they finish flowering (see Pruning Once-Blooming Roses).

Is your rose attached to a rootstock? If so, check for suckers of the rootstock coming out from below the bud union and remove them completely.

Is your rose growing on its own roots? If so, how old is the plant? A young plant, say one to two years old, probably hasn't reached its full potential yet. Hold off removing anything other than dead, damaged or diseased wood until the plant's a little older.

Pruning Repeat-blooming Roses

Note: Beginners should take a look at Equipment, Techniques, and Tips and Know Your Rose (above) before proceeding.

Prune Modern Roses (Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas, and Miniatures) and some of the Old Garden Roses (Hybrid Perpetuals and Portland Roses) in the Spring before new growth begins (about the time forsythia is in bloom). Do this while the plants are dormant, before they have started to leaf out. Remove older, damaged, dead, or weak canes and canes that cross or touch, especially in the center of the bush. In warmer climates, shorten remaining canes by one-third or until you get to sturdy growth. In areas where winter damage can occur, expect to cut away a greater amount of plant material. In fact, you may actually cut away quite a lot of damaged wood in very cold areas.

After you've gotten rid of the dead, diseased and damaged wood, how much or how little additional wood you prune will depend upon what you want your rose to do. Generally, heavier pruning produces larger blooms. This is the route followed by many exhibitors preparing for rose shows. If you're more interested in the rose as a garden subject, you're likely to get more but smaller blooms by pruning lightly.

It's important to know how big your rose wants to be. A tall-growing plant, like the Grandiflora 'Queen Elizabeth', for instance, is going to perform poorly if you insist on trying to keep it short.

Pruning Repeat-Blooming Climbers

Note: Beginners should take a look at Equipment, Techniques, and Tips and Know Your Rose (above) before proceeding.

Climbers are large plants. Give them a couple of years to grow before you start cutting away at them.

Remove older, damaged, and dead wood. Flowers bloom on smaller stems (the laterals) that branch off from the main canes. Once the plant is established, trim the laterals back to four to six buds in the Spring.

Pruning Once-Blooming Roses

Note: Beginners should take a look at Equipment, Techniques, and Tips and Know Your Rose (above) before proceeding.

This category covers a lot of roses! Albas, Centifolias, Damasks, Gallicas, and more! Give these plants a chance to get established in your garden over the space of a couple of years. When you do cut them back, do so after they have finished blooming. If you cut them back in the early Spring, you'll be removing flowering wood. You don't want to do that. So, wait until they've finished their bloom and then cut them back about one-third or shape them. New growth is next year's flowers.

Pruning Once-Blooming Climbers/Ramblers

Note: Beginners should take a look at Equipment, Techniques, and Tips and Know Your Rose (above) before proceeding.

These roses bloom only once each season, so wait until after they have finished blooming. Older canes should be removed to the ground. Cut back laterals to three or four buds. I always get a kick out of looking at before and after pictures of the 'Dorothy Perkins' arbor at Longwood Gardens. It's a spectacular site when it's in bloom. After the bloom is finished and the pruning has begun, it's another matter. But you can learn a lot by watching the gardeners at work and if you have a public garden nearby, try to visit it at pruning time -- you'll learn a lot!

Pruning Shrub Roses

Shrub Roses are the one-size-fits-all category. A catchall for all those roses that don't easily fit into any other category. Many repeat their bloom, but some are only once-blooming. Depending upon which type yours is, follow the appropriate guidelines above.

Pruning Standard or Tree Roses

Note: Beginners should take a look at Equipment, Techniques, and Tips and Know Your Rose (above) before proceeding.

A Tree or Standard Rose is actually two roses -- one joined to the top of the other. The bottom rose is the tall stem of a rootstock that serves as a kind of living post for the other rose which sits on top and does the blooming. The two roses are joined at the top of the rootstock at the bud union. In the Spring, any new growth along the rootstock below the bud union should be removed. Prune the rose on top along the same lines as you would if it was grown as a bush.