For Release On Or After 08/26/11

We are fortunate that everblooming roses produce two really great seasons of bloom in Louisiana. The first outstanding season occurs in spring and early summer from April to early June. Roses continue to bloom through the summer, but the flowers produced in mid- to late summer generally don’t have the quality of the flowers produced earlier.

Another outstanding rose-blooming period will occur in October and November when mild weather conditions will once again be ideal for quality flowers. Though we pruned back our rose bushes in early spring, they have been in active growth since then and may look overgrown, leggy and less attractive now – particularly the popular hybrid teas and grandifloras. We recommend a second, less-severe pruning in late August or early September to get rose bushes in shape for the fall blooming season.

The tools you will need include a sharp bypass hand pruner and a pair of leather gloves. You also might need bypass loppers if you have to cut woody canes larger than one-half inch in diameter. Proper tools make the job easier, and you’ll be less likely to damage your rose bushes or scratch your hands on the thorns.

Examine the bushes carefully. Look for dead canes and weak growth. Check the height and overall shape of the bush. Is it overgrown and leggy? Is the present shape acceptable, or does it need reshaping? The following recommendations are primarily for hybrid tea and grandiflora roses.

First, remove all the dead growth. Make your cuts well into the healthy part of the canes just above a leaf or dormant bud, or remove the dead cane entirely back to its point of origin. You may need your loppers for this job.

Next, remove weak, spindly canes the diameter of a pencil or less, particularly those growing in the interior of the plant. Cut them off at their point of origin, making sure you don’t leave a stub. If you see any sprouts originating from the root stock (below the large, knobby graft union), they should also be pruned off. Do not, however, remove any strong new shoots growing from the graft union.

The major part of the pruning involves shortening the remaining vigorous canes. This will produce a fuller, more attractive bush with larger, better-quality flowers in October. This pruning needs to be done even if there are flowers on the bush now. Be brave. When you are finished, use the cut flowers in arrangements inside so they won’t go to waste.

Cut the canes back to about 30 inches from the ground. Ideally, try to make each cut just above a bud that faces outward, away from the inside of the bush. The cuts should be made about one-quarter inch above the bud at a slight angle slanting away from the bud. Don’t leave a large stub sticking up above the bud, or you will encourage stem rot. And don’t cut too close to the bud, or you will kill it.

Clean up and dispose of all leaves and prunings from the area, and fertilize the roses to encourage vigorous new growth. Use your favorite rose fertilizer according to label directions or use general purpose fertilizer appropriate for your area.

Everblooming, old garden roses, shrub roses, landscape roses and other groups also may be pruned now, but the pruning required is generally less severe and is done mostly to shape the bush or to control the size of more-vigorous varieties. Use your best judgment when it comes to pruning these roses. As a general rule of thumb, these roses are cut back about one-third their height in late summer.

With old garden roses you can look at the situation and how the rose is growing, and then prune accordingly based on how you want the rose to look. Some gardeners prune their bushier roses with hedge trimmers. This is a particularly effective technique if you have planted a long hedge of roses that would take a long time to prune with hand pruners. On the other hand, this clipped appearance may not be suitable for roses growing in garden beds.

Some roses – including many climbing roses, ramblers and old roses – only bloom once in spring and early summer. Unlike everblooming roses, they should not be pruned back extensively now because they will produce next year’s flowers on the growth they made this summer. Cutting them back now, or any time before they bloom next year, will reduce the number of flowers they produce. So, keep pruning to a minimum – if you prune at all.

Pruning is a job many gardeners approach with apprehension. There is always a fear that if it’s not done correctly, dire things may happen to a plant. With some exceptions, pruning shrubs is more like getting a haircut. Even a really bad haircut will eventually grow out and look better.

Carefully consider what you are trying to accomplish before you start pruning, and have clear goals and objectives. But really, the only way to get comfortable and confident about pruning is just to do it and watch what happens. Roses are very forgiving about how they are pruned, and they make great plants to build up your confidence.