How To Prune Roses In 7 Steps

Pruning your roses is an important step in keeping a healthy plant. Most roses benefit from an annual prune to maintain the bush’s shape and size and to remove any canes that are dead, diseased, or damaged. If you’ve never pruned roses before, it can be a little intimidating, but our 7 steps below will guide you through the process.

Pro tip: Check out our pruning guides and video tutorials for Knock Out® Roses and Drift® Roses.

How To Prune Roses In 7 Steps

Pruning your roses is an important step in keeping a healthy plant. Most roses benefit from an annual prune to maintain the bush’s shape and size and to remove any canes that are dead, diseased, or damaged. If you’ve never pruned roses before, it can be a little intimidating, but our 7 steps below will guide you through the process.

Pro tip: Check out our pruning guides and video tutorials for Knock Out® Roses and Drift® Roses.

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How To Prune Roses In 7 Steps

When To Prune Roses

Pruning your roses back once a year will help to maintain the desired size. Check your rose bush from time to time in late winter/early spring, and when you see new shoots growing from the canes on your rose bush, that’s a good indication it’s time to prune. Keep in mind that the ideal time to prune your roses is often before, not after, your last frost-free date, which is the average day of the year your area has its last frost of the season. For example, the last frost-free date in southeast PA falls in early to mid-May, but pruning is recommended in March.

Preparing To Prune

Gather your gloves, pruners, and a yard waste bag for debris. Determining how high you want to prune depends on how high you want your rose bush to finish. Rose bushes typically triple in size after pruning, so a good rule of thumb is to cut the canes back by about 2/3 and leave 12–18” above ground.

Basic Rose Pruning Steps:

1. Gather a pair of good quality gloves and clean, sharp pruners. 

2. Cut the plant to the desired height, leaving between 12–18” of canes above ground.

3. Remove any canes that are dead, diseased, or damaged. Dead canes are typically light in color and brittle. If you’re not sure if a cane is dead, take a small cut; if there is no green inside, it is safe to consider it dead and remove it.

4. If there are any canes that cross each other, you can remove the one that is weaker or growing in an unnatural direction. This can help increase air flow through the plant, which promotes healthy growth.

5. Make your final precision cuts on the remaining canes. You want to find a healthy bud and make your cut right above that spot. That way, new growth will emerge from the bud and the cane will continue growing on its trajectory.

6. When finished, the remaining canes should all be healthy and have enough space to receive good air flow and light exposure. In general, pruning should serve the purpose of removing any growth that you don’t want the plant to put energy into growing.

7. Be sure to remove and discard all debris and clean your shears.

Take your time pruning and remember that you can always remove more canes but can’t add any back! If you’re not sure whether to remove growth, it is better to let it grow another season and monitor how it looks.