Tips On Pruning Rose Bushes by Lianne H. Oaks

Pruning is one of the most important tasks a rose gardener should perform to make his rose garden bloom with beautiful flowers. While there are many easy ways of doing it, pruning is no rocket science as many people believe it to be.
Pruning is the key element to maintaining healthy roses. A beautiful garden that blooms with the prettiest flowers is just an impossible dream if pruning is not performed. Pruning prevents your roses from getting diseases, encourages new buds to bloom, and improves the plant's overall appearance.

Roses that are pruned as they are growing are healthier compared to those pruned later. Pruning roses, while it is growing, can help prevent infections and diseases from spreading.

Before pruning, it is important to know first the specific pruning techniques that should be used for the kind of rose that you have. Some rose varieties require different pruning techniques from other varieties. Regardless of the type of rose that you have, however, the basic pruning steps are more or less the same.

To prune, start by eliminating damaged or dead canes. Pruning away brown canes does not only improve your roses' appearance, it also helps drive away some insects that can cause diseases to your roses. After removing diseased or damaged stems, make sure to dip your pruning shears in alcohol to prevent the disease from spreading.

Then, trim the center of the bushes. This will promote better airflow which helps the plant prevent getting fungal infections. Moreover, to prevent the spread of any disease, seal the pruning cuts with glue. Elmer's glue works just as fine as the more expensive ones so there is no need to buy higher grade glue.

There are other pruning techniques that you can use to further improve your rose garden. These pruning techniques are known according to three types: Low Pruning, Moderate Pruning, and High Pruning. But just remember that these techniques do not work on all rose varieties.

The low pruning technique applies well for Hybrid Tea Roses; while Tree Roses, Floribundas and Grandifloras grow well with moderate pruning technique. Moderate pruning techniques include cutting of stems lengthwise. Weak stems are cut back further to give room for the stronger stems.

On the other hand, high pruning involves more cutting and removing of all unwanted wood. The canes are cut back to two-thirds of its length. While there are rose bushes that flourish with high pruning, there are also many varieties that do not grow well with this technique, for there is a tendency that the growth is pre-empted. In some cases, the flowers are less-developed as they tend to bloom earlier. It is therefore necessary to take extra precautions in high pruning.

More to the pruning techniques, it is also crucial to know the most favorable time to prune. In most parts of the US, the perfect time to prune is in winter or early spring, which falls within January and February. However, if you are still not sure of when to prune your roses, look for signs of new growth or bud swelling, which indicates that new branches will develop. If this sign is present, then it's the perfect time to prune!

Rose gardening may require a bunch of time, practice and patience, but once the flowers start to bloom, you know that it's all worth it.



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For more great tips and advice on Pruning Rose Bushes, visit Rose Gardening Secrets to discover the simple secret to growing the most beautiful Rose bushes.