The end of February in Alabama is a signal to sharpen your pruners and get to pruning your roses. I spent most of the weekend pruning and still have a few more to go! I made this companion video to give some illustration to what I have outlined below I hope you will find it to be of some benefit.
I follow 3 D’s when pruning roses in spring:
- Remove DEAD canes
- Remove DISEASED canes
- Remove DAMAGED canes
I also look for and remove crossing canes that rub against one another and will ultimately damage one another. The photo below shows the result of this type of damage.
Damage from crossing canes on roses
Since modern repeat blooming roses bloom on new wood, I tend to prune them low, down to about 18-24 inches from the ground. Our roses are already putting out new growth, so it was very easy to tell where to cut. If possible, you want to cut where the new growth is facing away from the center of the shrub. This new outward growth promotes good air circulation in the center of the shrub. This is an important factor in keeping down disease.
I do not prune my climbing roses at this time. I continue to allow them put out new growth. I don’t prune them until after the first cycle of bloom. Then I trim and shape as needed. This also applies to any once blooming roses I have in my garden.
We weed and remove any debris that may have fallen or blown into our rose beds during the winter. Diseased leaves will overwinter in your garden and if you fail to remove them, it will cause you disease problems in the spring. We apply a fresh layer of mulch during this time. This new layer of protection will keep weeds down and help with moisture retention. We use mini pine bark nuggets. It beaks down quickly in the garden and adds to the mix of the soil.
I had the help of three great tools in the garden made pruning 150+ rose shrubs a lot easier
- A sharp pair of bypass pruners – Do Not use anvil type pruners. They can damage your roses.
- A pair of gauntlet gloves – allows you to get in “up to your elbows” as needed. Wendy Tilley at TheRoseGardener.com has these at a great price.
- A good set of loppers – Needed for removing the 3 D’s from your garden. Mine are actually a two handed pruner from Corona Tools USA
By following these simple steps, help get my roses off to a good start for the bloom season that is surely ahead.
The Redneck Rosarian 
Nice video and I like how you mentioned the “size of a pencil” stems and the white interior, and the container garden example. I’d like to reblog your post with your permission on my blog called Container Crazy CT. Cathy
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Thanks for your kind words. Yes you may reblog. — Chris
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how can I subscribe to your newsletters?
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We are getting a freezing rain tomorrow…70’s today…freezing rain tomorrow..only in Alabama 🙂 …should I wait until the weekend after the freeze to prune or is today ok?
Thanks so much!
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Hello Chris. What excellent tips. I did not know about looking for the all-white interior to the cane which makes perfect sense. I wish now I hadn’t gotten over-zealous and pruned back my climbing roses, but they’ll bounce back, I imagine. And thanks so much for the link to gauntlets which I need desperately.
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Great video Chris! I didn’t know about the cutting the canes with the brown spots. Looking forward to pruning my roses a lot better come June!
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Hey Chris, great lesson. Do you have a favorite brand of bypass pruner? Why not add a video about sharpening your tools? See you in Arkansas in May. Cannot wait! D.
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Could not live without my Felcos. Super excited about Arkansas! Will be a blast.
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Thank you for the video! I’m fairly new to having a rose garden and hoping to get a better start this year!
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Would you have tips on knock out roses.
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Hey Regenia, I treat my knockout like any other shrub in my garden. I take the hedge trimmers to them. Trim and shape them low in early spring and stand back and watch em grow and bloom! Hope this helps. Thanks for stopping by.
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Great video, you can hear people tell you a dozen times how to do it, but I really like hand-on videos. I have to watch to learn. Hoping for good things in Florida this season,
Lisa B. (Palm Harbor, FL)
By the way Chris, you probably don’t remember, but I sent you my favorite fragrant rose pic a couple years back, the Chrysler Imperial?
It didn’t survive the new roof installation.
For all my prompting and warnings they tipped a wheelbarrow full of old broken tile right over the edge of the roof, and it landed square on top of my poor ‘ol Chrysler:( I was sad, and angry, but we’ll have to try again with another very soon to replace him. My poor baby.)
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Great video mate.Love to watch these types of videos.Thanks for sharing.Keep it up
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What a great video man . Good job
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