The Dreaded "P" Word!

Paul Zimmerman, contributor

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And that word is;

Pruning!

A word that usually sends any rose gardener running for the smelling salts, oxygen and their favorite copy of "The Over Bloated, Incredibly Complicated Book of Rose Care".  In that substantial tome they will find strict rules of rose pruning etiquette that must be followed at all costs or else their roses will die a severe and painful death and life will cease to exist as we know it.  And you thought global warming was a threat!

Hogwash to all of that I say!  As we talked about in the introduction of this blog, a Garden Rose is nothing more than a shrub with flowers on it.  That's it, over and out, thank you very much.  So treat them as such and that applies to pruning.

Understand this.  The current method of severe pruning has one purpose in mind.  To produce long stem cut flowers for the florist industry, for exhibiting or bringing into your house.  And it works great - for that purpose.  Many dedicated and talented Rose Folks have raised this way of growing roses to an art form all its own.

But is it the best way to prune if you want a nice full bush, producing lots of flowers and blends in with all your other plants in the garden?  In my opinion, no.

So, now it's time to talk about "pruning" Garden Roses.  And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a video from our Roses Are Plants Too series that gives you a short introduction to pruning.  More details to follow in future posts so stay tuned.

By the way.  The Over Bloated, Incredibly Complicated Book of Rose Care makes great compost.  After all it's full of......

If you have more questions or comments be sure to join us on our Roses Are Plants, Too Discussion Forum.

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Give new roses a good "boxing" around the roots

Comments (10)

dirtdirtdirt writes: Yes, you answered my question. It was the one about the recently pruned knockout roses. Thanks again. Posted: 9:52 pm on April 28th

PFZimmerman writes: dirtdirtdirt. I want to make sure I answered your question. Was it the one about cutting back the leggy Knockouts hard? Posted: 10:27 am on April 26th

dirtdirtdirt writes: Great video! Thanks so much. I am new to roses, just started last year, and I am 100% positive I just did the wrong thing 2 weeks ago . I have already posted my question to you on another thread. Now I've spent all day on this website and watching most of your videos, I have learned soooo much. thank you. Posted: 12:15 pm on April 21st

PFZimmerman writes: The digging up and burying of climbers is sometimes done way up north like Minnesota and Canada. But with today's hardier roses it isn't needed. So don't worry about it.

We have a discussion forum and we encourage you to join up and post all kinds of questions. You'll find rose growers from around the world over there happy to help answer them!

www.paulzimmermanroses.com/forum.

See you there. Posted: 8:54 am on February 10th

matrixr124 writes: oh and sorry-- i live in zone 6B if it makes a difference Posted: 3:15 pm on February 9th

matrixr124 writes: wow- am I happy to have found this site when I did... your video is so helpful... last summer I put in a huge 4 tier garden and surrounded it with about 30 different rose bushes of so many different kinds I wasnt sure what to do with them this spring.... when to prune- how or how much...
this garden means alot to me as it was started as a memorial garden to my beautiful mother whom I lost to cancer, unfortunatley, I lost her green thumb as well... she was blessed with it and I was not....
I am learning, I am trying, and I am hoping that I dont kill every single one of them...
could you please tell me where I can find info on how to support your roses? I have a few climbers in the mix and I heard you have to dig them up every year and turn them over on the ground...?? this seems insane to me. My grandma never did that...
any help or advice for a new gardner would be great! thanks! Posted: 3:13 pm on February 9th

PFZimmerman writes: I'll be honest in that I've never thought about a video on pruning a rose tree. I would advise you prune it like a "A Rose That Builds Up A Structure" but obviously smaller. You would end up with a head about 2' in diameter when done. Just go for a nice rounded shape and you can keep it larger if you wish. Posted: 5:47 pm on February 7th

gardengal42 writes: Great video BUT what about pruning a Rose Tree??? Help and Thank You... Posted: 2:48 pm on February 7th

PFZimmerman writes: Thank you! Posted: 10:44 am on January 29th

stonethegardener writes: That's great! A ray of common sense! I linked to the video here
It's about time those old notions were challenged... Posted: 7:36 am on January 29th

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