In this handy How To: Prune A Rose guide, we cover the basics of pruning roses, including why it is important and how to prune roses of different types.
What is pruning? #
Pruning refers to the process of cutting back a rose. Roses need pruning for several reasons including: removing dead wood, rose hips, deadheading old blooms or to shape the rose. Pruning encourages growth, prevents disease and helps to keep your rose beautiful and healthy. We recommend pruning your rose twice a year. A light prune in late autumn to prepare the rose for winter and then a more intensive prune in early spring.
What is the difference between pruning and deadheading? #
Deadheading a rose means just removing the flowers that have died, and is an ongoing job through the season. Pruning is a more intensive job, but only needs doing twice a year – lightly at the end of the season once all the flowers have died, and once more intensively in spring. It involves not only removing the dead flowers, but also stems and leaves. For more information on how to deadhead, see our deadheading guide.
Why do I need to prune my rose? #
Pruning your rose not only keeps it looking in great condition, it keeps it healthy too. Removing dead blooms, leaves, and hips in late autumn will reduce the chance of diseases and pests taking hold. In particular, Black Spot can lay dormant over winter on fallen leaves, ready to reinfect the rose come spring. You can prune your rose to the height and shape you desire, and help it be at its optimum for growing and flowering.
Equipment needed for pruning roses #
- Sturdy and comfortable gardening gloves – to protect your hands from thorns
- Sharp pruners – to quickly and efficiently remove dead flowers
- A container or bag for discarded cuttings
See our gardening essentials range for our hand picked selection of garden tools and equipment.
How often do I need to prune my rose? #
We advise pruning your rose twice a year. In late autumn, once all the roses have died, we recommend giving your rose a light prune. This will help the rose to redirect its energy to its roots over the cold winter months.
If you wish to do a heavy prune in late autumn, just remember that cold temperatures and frosts can damage the newly exposed tips of stems. This can sometimes lead to die-back and ultimately the death of the rose. When pruning, leave enough length in the stem to account for this, and to be able to cut the tips off in early spring once the risk of frosts has passed.
In early spring, before the new growth appears, we would recommend a heavy prune. This will cut off any of the stem tips that have been damaged by winter frosts and prepares the rose for optimum growth in spring/summer.
Note: Rambling roses are an exception to this, and only need to be pruned once in late summer after flowering. Read below for more information.
How to Prune a Rose #
Each type of rose has the same general pruning principles, but they do differ slightly, especially rambling roses. Below we outline how to prune in general, plus any type-specific needs. For more information on types of roses, see our handy guide.
General Pruning Principles #
Late Autumn #
In late autumn, once the rose has finished flowering, we recommend a light prune to tidy the rose. Removing the dead flowers, hips and leaves will help the rose to redirect its energy to the roots during winter. We advise leaving enough length in the stems so that if the newly exposed tips are exposed to frost, you still have enough length for a healthy trim in spring.
Early Spring #
In early spring, we recommend a more intensive prune. This should be completed before new growth has started to form and the risk of frosts has passed. When pruning, we advise removing any inward facing growth and closely positioned stems as they will compete for space as they grow.
Remove any stubby snags (dead lengths of stem) as this will redirect the plant’s energy into producing new growth. We also advise pruning off any thin twiggy stems that are unlikely to produce sufficient growth or flowers.
The exception to this is a rambling rose – read on below to find out more.
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In late autumn, once the rose has finished flowering, you can give your rose a light prune. Remove any dead blooms, and straggly stems you might want to tidy up. Then in spring, prune down to half its height (or your desired height) and remove all the dead wood. It’s as easy as that!
Shop our Hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses.
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Patio roses are fairly compact already, but a hard prune in early spring (once the frosts have finished) can encourage a stronger plant.
View our Patio Roses here.
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Climbers flower on this year’s new growth. This means you can give it a light prune in late autumn once it has finished flowering, but leave the heavy prune (and training) until early spring. In the spring, prune down to the height you desire, and remove any dead wood. This will promote the new growth for this years flowers. After three or four years, start removing the old stems (one per year) towards the bottom of the rose, this promotes new growth lower down, so you get flowers all along the plant and not just at the top.
Browse our Climbing Roses here.
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Ramblers flower on the previous year’s growth, so if the rose is pruned in the spring you will remove all the new stems and end up with no flowers. The correct time to prune ramblers is just after flowering, as they will then start to produce new wood for the next year’s blooms. They should not need a second prune.
Shop our Rambling Roses here.
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Albas grow on old wood so it is advised to not prune for at least the first 3 years after planting. Once established, prune lightly after flowering, but Albas require little maintenance.
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Very little pruning is needed (or wanted), just remove any old, dead wood as and when required.
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Before growth starts in the spring (but after the frosts have subsided), give a light prune to tidy up and remove any dead or twiggy stems.
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Hybrid Musks require little pruning – just give a light tidy up once the frosts have passed.
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When you receive your bare root rose, the stems and roots will have been pruned for the bare root season already. However, we advise that you lightly prune them again before planting to promote new growth. We also advise that you to prune away any damaged or weak roots and stems to ensure your plant has a happy and great start to growing.
Roses should also have their stems lightly pruned again in February/March, before the growing season starts and while the plant is still dormant. This will take off any tips that may have been damaged by frosts over the winter, and will help encourage new, healthy growth in the coming months when the rose begins to grow again.
For more information, see our guide to Bare Root Roses.
Rose Care Help Guides #
Would you like more information about caring for your roses? Read our handy how-to guides and other rose care information from our expert Rose Care Team.
Alternatively, contact us and our knowledgeable team will be happy to help!
Keep in Touch #
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