Pruning rose bush shrubs, technique and timing

Here are the tips on how to prune your rose bush shrubs, the right timing and the pruning technique.

The pruning of a rose bush shrub is an important step that impacts the shrub’s flowering and its growth as years go by.

Season for pruning rose bush shrubs

There are 2 pruning seasons throughout the year, and the second one is the more important of the 2.

  • Fall is for light pruning that only aims to remove wilted flowers, dead wood and weaker branches.
  • The end of winter or the beginning of spring is when a more drastic and final pruning is performed, most often in March. Follow the pruning tips below.

Pruning rose bush shrubs

  1. Keep in mind that the purpose of the pruning is to cut the shrub short while keeping its main branches.
  2. It is important to reduce old fibrous branches to make way for young shoots.
  3. Pruning tries to keep the buds that will grow into flower-bearing branches as close as possible to the graft point.
  4. Try to cut around the 4th outward-facing eye.
  5. Also cut twigs and dead branches, and older stems, too.

Here is our video advice on rose bush shrub pruning tips

Smart tip about pruning roses

Don’t stop at only light pruning: drastic pruning tends to make your rose tree more vigorous.

See also