When is the best time to cut back my rose bushes, how much?

Here roses are given their main pruning in February. Late winter, early spring where ever they grow seems usual. How much depends upon what you want them to look like.

They say the best time to cut roses is when Forsythias bloom in spring

I also cut mine when forsythia blooms.

Shrub roses are pruned usually in late winter/early spring when you can just see the buds starting to grow. Cut them above an outward facing bud about a foot high.

Kathy,

Hybrid teas can be pruned to about a foot high, but many shrub roses, in addition to floribundas and grandifloras, only need to have about half their height removed, leaving 24 - 30 inches of growth in place (unless there has been excessive die-back due to winter kill, but I wouldn't expect that in Wilmington).

Here in Zone 9 where it dips once and a while down to 32 F, or a couple degrees briefly below that, we have been advised to pre-prune in Dec. down to waist-level, and then do the regular pruning in Jan.-Feb. finishing by Feb. 14. That's because in our mild-hot weather climate Apr.-Oct., bushes often reach 6--8 ft. tall, and pre-pruning keeps them from whipping around so much in the few windy winter storms that we do have.

Are you pruning in Spring differently floribundas and HT roses?
Mike, you spoke about Winter pruning, correct?

I always prune my roses when the forsythia blooms, which in my area is typically in March, as late winter gives way to early spring.

Mike said: I always prune my roses when the forsythia blooms, which in my area is typically in March, as late winter gives way to early spring.

Got it! I took the strategy to cut them twice: before winter (to prevent broke branches) and early spring to form the bush.

Yes, you can do some light pruning in early winter if you need to prevent long canes from whipping around, or crossed canes from scratching each other up with their thorns.