Pruning Roses Right
By Ken Lain, The Garden Guy

Thanks to the moisture we’ve had this week, the time couldn’t be better to plant new fruit trees and rose bushes.

Not only is the time right to plant new roses, but as soon as the weather clears it’s time to prune existing roses. The buds are huge and already sending out new shoots, which means it's time to prune. Because we have a month’s window in which to prune roses, there’s no rush to get out our pruning shears, but I’ll go ahead and share my approach to cutting on these fragrant favorites.

Hybrid Tea and Floribunda varieties continue their wave of popularity and it’s convenient that both are pruned in the same manner. Every year, when I first look at these bushes with my pruners in hand, I always get the feeling that I don’t know where to start cutting! However, with many rose-pruning seasons under my belt, I’ve found five easy steps that ease my uncertainty and guide me to making my roses the best they can be. With these steps you can knock out a dozen properly pruned rosebushes in just a couple of hours.

Step #1 - cut out all dead canes. Make sure to wear a good pair of gloves for this step. The dead thorns can really hurt, draw much blood, and can even leave scars.

Step #2 - cut off wild-looking canes and any crossing branches. Usually you’ll find the wild-looking canes growing from the bottom of the graft, close to the ground. These canes are from the original rose rootstock; your bushes don’t benefit from these canes so cut them back to the graft. You’ll easily identify which ones they are because the thorns on these canes look different; they’re heavier and sharper. Crossing branches are any that are growing across others, contradicting the over-all shape of the bush.

Step #3 - cut out old canes. These are canes that are an inch or more thick and have bark starting to form on them. Either long-handled pruners or a small pair of loppers is perfect for this job. Cutting out these old canes will open up the bush and encourage the desired structure of the plant. The goal is to end up with a bush that is knee to waist high and with 3 to 6 canes coming from the main graft near the ground. I like to retain the 3 to 6 strong canes that have the best spacing between them and give the shrub a balanced look.

Step #4 - prune out any canes that have suffered winter damage. These canes appear green at the bottom with a red to purple color on the tops, an indication of injury from frost.

Step #5 - seal any cut cane that is larger around than your pinkie finger. This will keep bugs from burrowing into the exposed soft wood. Use the black pruning paint available at garden centers. I use a black paint that is sold in a small container with a brush attached to the lid. It is the perfect implement for this job and makes this post-pruning task faster and easier.

Once you’ve completed these five steps your rosebush pruning is finished for another year. However, you should wind up your session with a little spring cleaning. Remove any dead leaves and flowers from around the graft so air can circulate freely around the base of each plant.

If you have had problems with powdery mildew on certain bushes, make sure you pull all remaining leaves off the canes and really clean up thoroughly. This will reduce the possibility of mildew returning. Spray each newly pruned rose with ‘Lime Sulfur’. This all-natural liquid cleans the remaining bush of any powdery mildew, aphids and thrips.

Now feed your roses. I am a strong believer in systemic rose foods. The plant actually absorbs the bug killer into the foliage system and keeps bugs away. Systemic action really will reduce the number of bugs that get on your roses. There are many systemic foods on the market, but I find the most effective contain di-syston as an active ingredient. I am so impressed with its effectiveness that I only sell rose foods with di-syston as the main bug inhibitor. It just adds to the ease of landscaping with roses. After completing all of these “spring cleaning” steps you only need to stand back and watch your roses take off with spring growth and lots of colorful blooms!

If you have specialty roses like climbers, hedge, carpet roses, or the trademarked Meidilands, it probably is best if you visit me at the garden center where we can talk specifics. Pruning these bushes isn’t difficult, just difficult to explain in the space of this column. If you bring a photo of the rose in need I’ll be able to give more precise advice.

This weekend our garden center is hosting a huge rose event! My favorite rose selections will be on display, and our usual Saturday 9:30am gardening class will be anything but usual. It promises to be exceptional. Harold Watters, my father-in-law and garden mentor, will teach this week’s class. I have pulled Harold out of retirement to share with local gardeners his exact how-to for magnificent roses. He will be telling and showing how to plant, prune, feed, and maintain exceptional landscape roses. I have even arranged for Harold to give away a few of my blooming favorites after the class. Bring a folding chair, a cup of coffee, and your garden journal for one of the most informative rose classes ever.

Until next week, I’ll see you in the garden center.

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