Preparing And Pruning Roses For Winter
Pruning roses for winter is just one step in the basic care of these beautiful plants. Some plant types are hardier than others, but all will benefit from some basic care.
First off, you want to discourage growth in the colder months, so stop feeding your roses near the end of August. Tender growth could suffer damage if winter hits. Once the first frost hits, water the roses thoroughly and prune by removing all dead leaves and branches. Protect your climbing roses from any winter damage they can suffer due to wind or frozen clumps of snow weighing them down.
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End of season pruning for roses should be kept to removing dead stalks and branches since you don't want to expose anything new to the winter elements. The recommended time for cutting stalks and pruning is at the end of winter - late February or March. Different types of roses require different methods of pruning.
For pruning the bushy small flowering roses (floribunda), prune the bush back to approx 17" tall and thin out some of the canes so that air and sunlight can get in there. Do this also at the end of winter.
Pruning hybrid tea roses - the ones with the large flowers should be done at the tail end of winter. Prune the plant back to 5 of the strongest young canes. Of those 5 canes, shorten those that are the size of a pencil to 6" from the ground, prune any that are the size of your little finger to 10" and ones that are larger than your fingers can be pruned to 2 feet.
Climbing roses should be pruned at the end of winter to remove the older canes. Keep about 8 of the younger ones. For tree roses, use the same pruning steps and remember to never prune it's main stem.
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