How and When to Prune Your Rose Bushes

Roses are some of the most beautiful bushes you can have on your flower beds! They are also some of the most high maintenance plants you will come across. All that beauty comes at a cost (in time and money...and blood!). One of the biggest questions people have about their rose bushes is when to prune them. You can find calendars all over the internet with a quick search; however, you will be left with a whole lot of conflicting answers. So let us break it down for you in terms that just make sense!

Needed Equipment
If you have ever been "bitten" by the thorns of a rose bush, you can understand the need for some heavy protection. Here is a list of items you will need to prune your rose bushes. 

• Bypass shears (not anvil). Bypass shears give you a clean cut allowing for healthy growth of new buds, whereas anvil shears squeeze the canes and can damage them preventing any new growth and killing whole canes on your bush. 
• Gauntlet style gardening gloves. We aren't talking the cloth fabric stuff your grandma uses to plant her petunias. You need something with some strong leather to keep those thorns from getting to you. Gauntlet style is recommending to cover more of your arm especially for larger bushes. 
• Long-sleeve heavy weight shirt to protect your arms from clippings that may contain thorns. 
• Thick pants that go to or past the ankle. 
  
• You may also want some bug spray and sunblock!

When to Prune
So the biggest question is: "When to prune your bushes?" So let's answer that for you!

If you live in a colder climate, you will want to start pruning your bushes immediately following the final frost. I know! I know! What the heck does that mean for people who have unpredictable weather patterns? Well, that means you let the roses tell you! It's not a cryptic message I promise. 

You ever notice when the bushes start sprouting leaves in early spring? Some even start immediately budding. This is when you want to prune your rose bushes. Follow our steps below and you cannot fail!

How to Prune
Now that you have the tools and you know when to start pruning your bushes, the last thing is to know how to prune your rose bushes. Just as there are a million ways to skin a cat (not at anyone actually skins cats...we hope), there are about a million ways to prune your roses; however, this method is tried and true and simple! 

1. Remove all remaining leaves. Last seasons leaves could be diseased so lets get rid of them. 
2. Remove all dead wood. If it's brown it's dead (simple enough right?).
3. Open up the center of the bush. Cut away any horizontal growing canes that may rub against your healthy upward growing canes. 
4. Remove thin weak growth...(anything smaller than a pencil).
5. Prune all remaining canes by cutting 1/4" to 1/2 " above an outward facing bud eye or connection joint of a leaf and a stem. NOTE: Make all cuts at a 45 degree angle sloping away from the bud eye. 
6. Seal your fresh cuts with a compound of your choice to protect from disease and pests. 
7. Clean up all debris. 
8. Fertilize your rose bushes with a fertilizer of your choice. 

Let's Wrap Things Up!
Now that you know what you need, when to do it, and how to do it, you're all set! Still seem like a bit much to maintain? Hire one of our members and Neighbor's Lawn Care and let us care your your precious roses and any other plants you have. We will do all the maintenance so that you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of...our labor! 

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