There are hundreds of videos on line but they don't all agree. There seem to be two schools of thought; one where you strip all the leaves and prune to 4 or five big canes, and one where you can leave the leaves on and prune out only crossing branches, dead wood and suckers.

The difference seems to be climate. In humid areas they go for a really open bush with only 4 or 5 canes while in less humid areas they leave the plant more full. Is that how it works?

Around here I'm not sure it makes all that much difference as my gardener pruned my roses last year by cutting half of the tops off with a 4' gas hedge trimmer - kind of like a privet hedge. The flowers were about the same as the year before but maybe it's not best to do that every time.

How do you prune your roses?

Below ground level. I wait for the Japanese beetles and black spot to destroy the rose bush, then I dig it up and toss it.

Seriously....I've never had enough sun to grow roses here so I don't know much about them. I did think that how you prune depends on the type of rose you have. Grafted varieties are different than roses that grow from their own root stock. And I have no idea how the newer Knock-Out shrub roses are supposed to be pruned.

Oh, and I'd kill any landscaper that took a hedge trimmer to anything in my yard. Hand pruning FTW!

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
And I have no idea how the newer Knock-Out shrub roses are supposed to be pruned.

There are videos on the net that show people pruning them but I have never found it necessary.

They even deadhead themselves.