If you grow more often-blooming roses in the garden, you are probably wondering whether you should cut them in the fall so that they continue to grow lushly and bloom profusely?
Pruning is an important aspect of rose garden care, and it plays a crucial role in the prosperity of more frequently blooming roses. If done at the right time, it will ensure healthy growth and beautiful blooms in the coming season. In this article you will learn how important it is and when to prune roses that bloom more often.
Rose bushes are among the plants that wonderfully beautify the garden and exude a pleasant scent. However, they should be cared for well so that they can continue to bloom profusely. If you're growing a repeat-blooming rose in your garden for the first time, you're probably wondering when and how to prune it. Below you will find the best tips for this.
What does frequently blooming mean?
Repeat-blooming roses are roses that bloom several times a season, extending into the winter. These include both shrub roses and ground cover rosesor climbing roses, which have the potential to produce flowers continuously from spring until the first frost.
But note the difference between repeat-blooming and remontant roses. The latter have only one main flower, but a second flower could be stimulated by repruning, while more frequently flowering roses have more than two flowering periods in a season.
When pruning a rose, it is important to recognize whether the rose is a repeat bloomer, remontant bloomer or a one-bloom bloomer, as the pruning technique differs.
When is the right time to prune?
This is a question that many gardeners ask themselves. The ideal period is usually between the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
But when it comes to the fall season, October is a good time for a clean-up pruning before winter. When the leaves fall off and the plants stop growing to prepare for the cold season, you can remove dead or damaged branches, crossing shoots or those that are useless, and lightly thin the rose. Just be sure to do this before the first frost and avoid over-pruning at that time, which could stimulate new growth.
Actual pruning is done in early spring, once the last frost has passed, and is essential for repeat-blooming roses to remove spent flowers, encourage new growth and maintain an attractive shape.
Cutting roses that bloom more often: simple instructions
Pruning roses that bloom more often is an important step to remove the old wood that no longer bears flowers and to encourage new growth. Always remember that all roses bloom only on new shoots.
Cut old and dead shoots that are brown and have cracked bark back to the base to encourage vigorous new growth. Remove unwanted growth, especially where disease or damage has occurred.
Shorten the main shoots by cutting towards the fourth eye and leaving one centimeter above the eye.
Remove diseased or crossing shoots in the center of the plant that are growing too densely and depriving the rose of light and air.
Shorten side shoots to two or three eyes.
Reduce new growth by up to a third in late winter when the worst of the frosts have passed.
It is very important that the cut be made diagonally at a 45 degree angle, directly over an outward facing eye, to encourage growth in the desired direction and to keep rainwater away from the cut.
To give the plant a good start, always keep at least five to six shoots.
Remove the wilted flowers regularly in summer to keep them healthyto promote flower production. Simply cut diagonally above the first or second 5- or more-petaled leaf located under each individual flower or group of flowers.
What should you pay attention to when pruning?
- Always use sharp pruning shears or pruning shears on thicker branches to make precise, clean cuts that heal easier and faster. Disinfect tools between individual plants to avoid spreading pests and diseases through the plant sap.
- Protect the rose from disease after pruning as it is now much more vulnerable. To do this, use copper-based fertilizers with antifungal properties.
- Always consider climate conditions before pruning your roses and wait until the threat of late frosts has passed.
