Pruning Your Roses

Pruning roses is one of those operations which alarm the uninitiated, who, fearful of making mistakes, leave the rose trees all to themselves.  

Hybrid Perpetuals do best when well cut back, and the weaker the plant the greater should be the application of the knife.  This is a rule difficult to impress upon people, but it is a fundamental unalterable principle.

New rose trees planted only the season before should be always cut back more than the old established bushes, for this will induce them to shoot out with more vigor.

For show blooms or for cutting from

Before commencing pruning, a pleasant one if gloves are worn to protect the hands, we should make up our minds what we want, large rose flowers and less of them, or quantities of rose blooms of moderate size.  If we desire an abundance, we can leave five or six eyes on each strong root, and cut all the weakly ones out, if we wish to dazzle the eyes of our neighbors with the circumference of each individual rose, we must prune so as to leave but three eyes, or at the most four on each shoot.  

Prune in March and April

March is the best time for pruning Hybrid Perpetuals, though every autumn the tallest shoots should be considerably reduced in length, as nothing is gained by letting them sway about in the wind all the winter.

April is the month to prune Tea Roses.  They must be treated more gently.  Every brown or withered shoot must be cut away at the base, and the sound ones that are left only shortened about a third of their length.  Roses are generally produced on these long shoots, which are eventually pegged down in many cases. 

There is nothing like practical experience in pruning Teas.  Some of them scarcely blossom at all if cut back much, while others will stand strong measures, and be all the better for them.

Some sorts need no pruning

There are many kinds, notably Evergreen Roses, which only require to have their dead shoots cut out, and the brown ends snipped off, where pruning in fact is not needed.  

Cut back evergreens in autumn

Of course from time to time even the Evergreen Roses (Rosa Sempervirens) must be well cut back, otherwise they would grow into a confused mass.   It should, however, in the case of these free growing roses, always be done in the autumn, or all the embryo flowers will be cut off.

In treating Turner’s Crimson Rambler, the best method is the following.  In October cut out every bit of old wood, and only leave the new shoots, which are easily distinguishable from those which have flowered, as they are a much lighter green and softer.  Leave the whole rose tree severely alone in the spring, and at the right time you will have a splendid crop of its beautiful bunches.  In this particular variety it is essential to prune it in this manner every autumn.

Banksian, Bourbon, Polyantha, China, and Japanese Roses require little or no pruning.