Viva La Difference

how to prune different rose types

- Ludwig Taschner

With all the different types of garden roses, from low groundcovers to tall hedging roses, you would imagine that winter pruning has become more complicated. 

Not at all. The same principles apply, irrespective of the rose. We prune to neaten and shape the bushes, and to reduce the height of tall growers. By removing old or weak growth, especially from the centre of the rose, we make way for strong new stems to develop in spring.

However, each rose type has individual growth characteristics, and knowing how to deal with that helps to get the best out of each rose.

In the past, most rose gardens consisted of hybrid tea and floribunda roses, and these are the ones that have traditionally been pruned. Hybrid teas are pruned to encourage long stems and good quality blooms, while floribunda roses are shaped, being more informal growers, and to encourage lots of new branches that will produce a show of flowers.

What’s our approach today?

Gardeners who have experienced drought and are uncertain about next season’s rainfall would be wise to prune their roses far more lightly than in previous years. With light pruning, which leaves the stems longer, the sprouting eyes are younger and quicker to sprout, producing lots of new green leaves that feed the roots, which enables the roots to spread and quickly establish themselves. With a strong root system a rose is more able to tolerate fluctuations in watering.