A CUT ABOVE
WANT BEAUTIFUL ROSES THAT FLOWER IN ABUNDANCE? THEN NOW IS THE TIME TO GET PRUNING
THE most popular and widely grown roses are modern bush types – and there are two main groups.
Firstly, hybrid teas, which have one large flower at the tip of each stem (though it is sometimes accompanied by two or three smaller buds), and floribundas, which have a larger cluster of flowers at the tip. Both types need pruning every year in spring, just before the plants start growing again.
Normally the job is done in mid March but if there is a very cold spell it’s best delayed by a week or two, since pruning promotes the growth of strong new shoots that may be damaged by a hard frost. Prune only hybrid tea and floribunda roses for now. Other types, including shrub roses, climbing roses and ramblers, are pruned using different methods at other times of the year.
WHY PRUNE ROSES?
The reason is to keep the plants healthy, compact and free-flowering. If you don’t prune, within a few years you will have scruffy looking bushes with a few long gangling stems, a lot of dead shoots and very few flowers.
TRADITIONAL HARD PRUNING
The time-honoured method of pruning bush roses is to cut all the stems down fairly close to ground level. Cut strong, fat stems back least, to about 9ins (23cm); cut pencil-thick shoots back most, to 4-6ins (10-15cm); and cut weak, thin, spindly or diseased shoots out entirely – right back to where they grow out from the main stem.
Cut each shoot off cleanly with sharp secateurs to a point just above a growth bud that faces outwards from the centre of the plant.
This produces an even-shaped, opencentred plant as the new shoots always grow in the direction the bud was pointing.
This method is ideal for roses grown on their own in rose beds.
MODERN LIGHT PRUNING
Today most people prune roses far less severely. Start by cutting out any weak, dead or diseased shoots entirely. Then shorten the strongest shoots to 18ins (46cm) above ground level, and thinner shoots to a foot (30cm), again cutting just above an outwardfacing bud. If you can’t see a growth bud, snip just above an outward-facing leaf scar, which shows where the next bud will grow from.
This method is particularly suitable for roses growing in mixed borders or in beds with groundcover perennials underneath.
AFTERCARE
Post-pruning, when you can work without being spiked by thorns, remove weeds and tidy up the entire bed. Then spread a generous mulch of well-rotted manure, garden compost or bark chippings over the exposed soil.
Tuck it round the base of the roses and any other shrubs, as well as clumps of spring bulbs or perennials that are beginning to come through.
Feed rose bushes in mid to late April (in a cold area or if bad weather continues late into spring, delay until mid-May). Sprinkle a specialist rose food from a garden centre evenly round the plants at the maker’s recommended rate.
If the roses are growing in mixed beds, use rose food over the whole bed since other plants will also appreciate it (it’s high in potash and magnesium to promote free flowering and strong, healthy foliage). Feed again immediately after each flush of flowers is over.
DEAD-HEADING
This is a form of summer pruning. From June until the end of the flowering season in autumn, snip off dead and dying flowers every week or two along with 2-6ins (5-15cm) of stem (depending on the length and thickness of the shoot), cutting just above an outward facing leaf.
Again, it is best to cut back into stems that are at least pencil thick. A new shoot should soon grow here, from the angle between this leaf and the main stem.
A combination of dead-heading and some well-timed feeding throughout the season will help encourage strong new growth that will bear the next batch of beautiful blooms.
If you don’t prune, you’ll have long gangling stems and few flowers