5 tips for pruning healthy, beautiful roses

Roses need quality pruning to help them grow their famously beautiful flowers. Here are a few pruning tips to encourage your roses to look their absolute best.

• A stem or branch of the current year's growth is called "new wood." Hybrid teas, floribundas and other modern roses flower on these stems.
• "Old wood" is a stem of some previous year's growth. Ramblers and most climbers flower on old wood. The shoots grow one year and bear flowers the next.

• Roses that are planted in spring must have their necessary pruning done immediately. If they're planted in fall, however, prune them in the spring.
• The best time to prune most roses is at the end of the dormant season in your area, just before new growth begins and as the buds begin to swell.
• In mild climates, this may be as early as December or January. In colder climates, it may be as late as May.
• Wait until you're sure that all danger of hard frost is past, or newly pruned tips may be killed.
• Climbers are best given a light pruning when they finish flowering, and again in the spring.
• Ramblers are best pruned after flowering, as are weeping standards.

• To make a pruning cut, use strong, sharp pruning shears to cut the stem cleanly, leaving no ragged edges.
• Cut no more than five millimetres above an eye or a growth bud.
• Angle the cut so it slopes slightly back and away from the bud.
• To prevent damage, don't cut too close to the bud. If the cut is made too high above the bud, the stem may die back.
• When removing a complete stem, cut as close as possible to the parent stem with pruning shears. Then trim the stump flush with the stem, using a sharp knife.
• Don't try to cut thick stems with pruning shears. Instead, use long-handled loppers for a good, clean cut.
• For old hardwood, use a narrow-bladed pruning saw.
• Saw cuts should be pared clean with a knife.

• The bud should face outward to allow growth to spread from the centre and keep the bush uncrowded.
• This applies to all roses except ramblers and climbers, which must be encouraged to grow along a support, and prostrate types, which are trained along the ground.
• If two growth buds develop at the same point after pruning, pinch out the weaker one. Do this carefully with either your thumbnail or the point of a clean, sharp knife.

Different kinds of roses need to be pruned differently to help them grow. Here's some tips on pruning the most popular varieties:

• Newly planted hybrid teas and grandifloras are pruned hard to 10 centimetres (four inches) from the ground.
• Floribundas are pruned in the same way, except that they should be cut a little higher — 12 to 15 centimetres (five to six inches) from the ground. Cut short varieties somewhat lower.
• Moderately prune newly-planted species roses. They bloom on the wood produced in the previous season. The more stems, the greater the next crop of flowers.
• Climbing and rambling roses need moderate cutting back in order to compensate for root loss when they're transplanted.
• Both old and modern shrub roses should be treated the same way.
• Cut polyanthas back by one-third.
• Prune miniature roses back to within five centimetres (two inches) of the ground.

The basic steps of pruning apply to all types of roses. Beyond the basics, treat each rose according to its type, and prune as recommended.