Roses forgive a lot, but timing isn't one of them. Prune a once-blooming climber in March and you've just removed June's flowers with your own secateurs. After twenty seasons of rose care, here's the calendar we prune by — and the single mistake to avoid.
The main event: late winter
For hybrid teas, floribundas and grandifloras, wait until late winter when buds swell but haven't leafed out — in Springfield, that's usually late February to mid-March. Cut back to outward-facing buds, remove crossing canes, and take out anything thinner than a pencil. It looks brutal. The June flush will prove it right.
The weekly habit: deadheading
From first bloom to September, snip spent flowers back to the first five-leaflet leaf. Each cut triggers a new flowering shoot within weeks. Skip deadheading and the plant pours its energy into hips instead of your next vase of blooms.
- Cut at a 45-degree angle, a quarter inch above an outward bud.
- Sterilize blades between plants — a quick wipe stops blackspot spreading.
- Stop deadheading six weeks before first frost so canes harden off.
The mistake that costs a season
Once-blooming roses — old garden roses, ramblers, most climbers — flower on last year's wood. Prune them in winter and you get leaves, no flowers. These get cut right after they finish blooming in early summer, and never later. When in doubt, check the tag or ask us before you cut.
"A rose pruned at the right time doubles its blooms. The same rose pruned at the wrong time just sits there, judging you." — Daniel Reyes, Landscaping Services lead
Feed after you cut
Pruning wakes the plant up hungry. Scratch a balanced rose fertilizer into the mulch ring after the late-winter prune, water it in, and step back. Repeat lightly after the first flush and your roses will out-bloom the whole street.
Rather hand over the shears?
Our pruning service visits in the right window every year — roses, hedges, fruit trees and all. One less calendar to keep, and a garden that always looks like someone who knows what they're doing lives there.