Trimming Roses (But Yet, Not Boring)
It was necessity that forced me to trim our absurdly overgrown roses this year. Drew is painting the house, and if I want him to paint the washhouse also, I was going to have to trim the rose bush that had literally overtaken the entire south side of the shed.
Thank goodness roses like to be trimmed. This is like going into the barber for a trim and coming home with a buzz-cut.
Sorry I didn’t get “before” picture. Suffice it to say that we couldn’t see most of this side of the shed, and the tops of the rose branches reached the roof.
My wonderfully patient mother taught me the trick to trimming roses last year. It just so happens that I was forced to trim these roses at the right time of year: toward the end of the dormant season, when the new-growth buds are just swelling.
new growth bud
On each stem that you’re trimming, you want to cut right above one of these buds. This bud will dictate the direction that branch will grow, so you usually want to pick a bud pointing away from the center of the plant. (If you have them all facing in, the rose will grow into itself and get too crowded.)
just cut about 1/8 inch above the selected bud
Be Brutal! Roses (especially well-established plants) don’t mind being cut back at all! This is the time to fertilize, also, if you want to really help your plant. I didn’t, because I don’t have the fertilizer and because roses are pretty hardy.
water
Make sure to water your rose, however. Roses are special, because you really don’t want to water their leaves. They are susceptible to Blackspot if the leaves get wet on a normal basis. Water just the ground around the rose.
Don’t cry over your mangled rose, yet. Wait just a few weeks. You will have a maintained and managable rose, which is a grace to any garden.
Look at what I happened upon as I was walking inside tonight. Just another Kansas evening!
Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great week.
Next week, I will introduce you to the newbies in my “this-year’s” garden and show you my secret for keeping out rabbits.
Thanks for the tips, Annie! When you say “new growth bud,” that doesn’t mean a flower bud, just a set of leaves? And so you pick a set that’s pointing outward? Oooh, I can’t wait to see your rose blooms! I wonder what color they’ll be?
Ok, yet another reason I love your blog. Helpful tips for this novice gardener! I’ve trimmed rose tons of times, and have NEVER paid attention to what direction anything was growing in, and…….you guessed it. I had roses growing back on themselves so badly I was taking my life in my own hands just trying to cut the blooms. From now on I’ll think of your tip with every cut.
the wanna be country girl – Caroline
Oh! you made my day with your post! Thanks for being a fan. It’s really fun to learn all of these things. Being new on my little farm, I end up calling my patient and knowledgable mother about 10 times a day! haha. I’m glad I can share my new-gained insights with others. 🙂
I cut down the climbing roses at a rental when we were first married and the landlord almost choked, she was very unhappy and said they should never be trimmed. My mom always trimmed her roses, but they weren’t climbing roses- any tips? I thought the direction of the buds was very interesting, hadn’t thought of that.
Most roses are climbing roses if they are allowed to be! That’s kind of a joke. They will all climb, but there are special roses just for climbing. I’m sure that your rose was actually refreshed that it had been cut. It seems to jump-start them. If I had climbing roses, I would still trim them. The only difference it that you are sort of “guiding” them with your cuts and holding them back to the area that you want them climbing in. I bet the rose came back as beautiful as ever!