No matter what type of roses you grow, pruning roses can be a thorny occupation. The prickles, often mistakenly called thorns growing from the outer dermis of a rose bush can be quite sharp and painful when imbedded in your skin. However, pruning roses is considered by some to be an art form and the methods used are dictated by the type of roses being pruned.

Garden roses generally bloom once per year, in late spring or early summer with the blooms appearing on two-year old canes. The pruning needs are simple, and as canes die they should be removed to make room for new ones, but care must be exercised not to remove the canes during their first or second year of growth. By removing the one-year-old canes when pruning roses the next years flowers will also be removed.

As soon as the blooms fade, the shrubs can be cut back to limit the height and width of the bush as can obviously dead canes from an aged rose bush. The pruning needs of the garden rose is minimal and removing the old canes is simply all that is required, usually once all the blooms are gone.

Modern Hybrids Require Different Pruning Times

Almost all modern hybrids contain the genetic heritage of China roses and have been bred to bloom continuously throughout the growing season. As new canes sprout during the season, new blooms will appear on those canes and this will go on continuously until the first frost. Once frost has stopped the growth, pruning roses of their old and dying canes will make room for more new ones the following season.

In any case, and on any variety of rose bush, pruning roses of all dead or diseased canes should happen regardless of the time of year. Early spring is the best time for pruning roses and cuts should be made above the bud, the location of last year’s bloom and the cut should be at a 45-degree angle. This helps prevent new foliage from growing from the cut and also helps stop moisture build up at the pruned site, which could subject the cane to disease.

During the blooming season, deadheading of all varieties of roses will help the plants live longer and bloom longer. It is simply a matter of removing the bloom once they die. In many varieties, this will make room for re-blooming of plants as well as reduce the amount of debris from dead blooms from laying on the garden surface.

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