Great reminder for me not to stress too much about not getting the pruning done this winter while I am laid up with a bum foot. I'll just do a light clean up later.
Great article Zuzu, bet that will help a lot for anyone intimidated by rose care.

Finally! Pruning demystified. Thank you Zuzu.

One thing I wish you'd mentioned is winterkill. Not something you personally have to deal with, but pruning winterkill is a necessity. I've left roses with winterkill alone (not pruned the dead off as I didn't know it was dead), and had a VERY late start to blooms on those plants, if any at all. Winterkill is easily spotted.. the canes will be green up to a point, then they turn a purplish black. I can show pictures of winterkill if you need/want...

'Taking my iPad out this afternoon to see examples again before I prune anymore. In Austin, we're supposed to prune on Valentine's Day. Love all the how to photos.

Winterkill is the same thing as dead, diseased, or damaged wood, Toni, and should be removed as soon as you see it.

Oh, I'm so happy that you posted this article!! I guess the only thing I'll do is prune off the black "die back"!! I'll be looking forward to really tall and full rose bushes this year. Thank you.

Great article Zuzu!

Thanks to everyone for the compliments.

Sandi, I use holidays to remember gardening dates too: Thanksgiving for bringing the tender tropicals inside, Christmas for pruning the roses, Lincoln's Birthday for pruning the fuchsias, Fourth of July for dividing the irises, etc.

Zuzu - that's a great way to remember.. If the seasons cooperated with the calendar!! Only holiday I can depend on is 4th of July .. That's always hot!

I loved this article. I will never worry about pruning my few rose bushes every again.
Thank you so much Zuzu.

That was my goal, Lynn. I just want everyone to relax.

I took a big sigh of relief after I read your article.

My sister in-law had the most beautiful roses one year because the deer trimmed them for her. They had chewed the canes down quite a bit and she was worried that they had suffered. Turned out, the deer did a great job with trimming them. The roses were spectacular that year.

My friend Fallon at Garden Valley Ranch actually cried one year when she saw what the deer had done to a big display bed of hybrid teas. They left only stubs where the canes had been. Much to her surprise, the next flush of roses was gorgeous, with the longest stems ever.

I, luckily, don't have deer problems, but 2 years ago I accidentally .. Trimmed? one of my rose bushes with a weed wacker. I was using it to trim down the weeds/grass around the bush and BZZT!! took all the canes right off. I was absolutely stunned at what I had done. Luckily the rose *did* come back... But other than trimming off the winter kill (which is usually 1/3 to 3/4 of the poor bush, depending on the winter) & deadheading, I don't trim at all.

I have cut back my John Davis a few times to 2 feet a few times. I like it to have blooms all the way up the trellis and after a few years it gets "bare legs". One year, I was feeling especially creative and I looped the canes back down to the ground. It created a very different display and was much larger.

I love to loop the canes of climbers. I also like to wrap them around pillars.

Thanks for this wonderful informative article. It will be making this job much less stressful this year!!

What a nice article, zuzu. Guess I should tag this under "stress relief in the rose garden" since in the long run it relieves more stress and worry about our plants for the long term as well as at pruning time, eh? I know rose pruning is a big worry or headache to quite a few folks I know, then they wonder and watch if they did a good job. (Guilty here!)

And I'm in awe at your photos! Those roses are beauts! Very impressive!

Shoe

One of the things I appreciate most about AllThingsPlants is the emphasis on stress-free gardening across the board. I shy away from websites implying that gardening is somehow comparable to brain surgery, entailing a myriad of rules requiring great skill for their implementation. ATP is made up of people who love to grow plants and who know that gardening isn't rocket science. Our website is relaxing and never intimidating, don't you agree?