Pruning Your Roses

Roses should be pruned throughout the colder months of the year whilst the plant is in it’s dormant state. Most roses will become dormant once the temperature is consistently below 5 degrees, which is usually from November onwards, depending on where in the country you live.

The important thing with pruning is that you need to make sure you wait until the rose has finished flowering for the year, but ideally do it before the plant starts shooting new growth.

Our Rosarian’s would recommend pruning climbing and rambling roses in November and December (before they have started to shoot any new growth) and January and February, for most other roses. With that being said, as long as it is done during the dormant season, it won’t impact the future growth of the plant too much if you are a couple of weeks early or late.

When pruning any rose, you should remove any stems that have gone bad or aren’t growing in the right direction for your plant. The best way to learn this is to remember DDD WW. This stands for Dead, Diseased and Damaged wood or any wood that is Weak or Wayward.

It should be fairly easy to see if any stems have become dead, diseased or damaged, but if you are wondering whether you have any weak or wayward stems, consider whether the stem will be able to hold the weight of a flower next summer or whether it is going in the wrong direction from the rest of the plants stems.

Make sure you dispose of any diseased/dead wood straight away in a garden bin, don’t leave it in the garden while you do other jobs or put it in your compost bin otherwise it will contaminate it’s surroundings.

It is also standard practice across most rose varieties to do a lighter prune the first year, while the roots are still establishing themselves, so that you don’t stunt the plants growth for the summer.