Pruning a shrub rose - part 1: The principles of pruning

In the Rose Garden

Pruning a Shrub Rose - Part 1: The Principles of Pruning

There are many different forms and groups of roses, which all require a slightly different approach to their pruning. In this lesson, I'll introduce some of the types of roses that you might have at home, and the basic principles of pruning that they share.

Winter work is really important and perhaps the most creative - pruning and making shapes are really enjoyable tasks. It's now November and we'll be pruning roses as the main task over the next month, interspersed with other winter tasks such as planting biennials, coppicing hazel and propagation.

• We have over 300 types of old roses (bred before 1869) here.
• We have others that are old-fashioned but not truly 'old' roses, such as an 1888 Bourbon rose called 'Madame Ernest Calvat', which we'll learn to prune in this lesson.

Avoiding Soil Compaction

The first thing to do before you prune is to put down some stepping boards.

• It's really important to look after your soil and not stand on it in winter when it's wet.
• Pruning the rose takes some time, so if you're walking round it and standing on the soil, you will cause some compaction.
• The boards also give you the discipline to stay in a couple of positions rather than shuffling around.
• Make sure your boards are small so you don't squash any smaller plants. Pieces of wood that are just a bit longer and two to three times wider than your feet are ideal.

What You'll Need

1. Gloves, if you want them.

• I tend not to use gloves while gardening, but I do often wear fingerless gloves when pruning roses. I find it really useful to still keep my fingers free so I can feel what I'm doing.
• I like that these fingerless ones have quite a padded back, so I can use the back of my left hand to push the stems out of the way while I'm pruning with my right.
• If you prefer full gloves, that's fine too. It's a matter of personal preference.

2. Sharp secateurs.

• You'll each have your own preference; I've been using Felco for years.
• I find it very useful to have a little case or holster to put them on your belt.

3. A jacket with open, preferably upright, pockets.

• I favour a jacket with upright pockets that are open at the top, which are handy for holding string and easier to take it in and out of than slanted pockets or trouser pockets.

4. Hortisept horticultural disinfectant.

• We spray our secateurs with a bit of hortisept between roses to prevent spread of disease.

Pruning the 'Madame Ernest Calvat' Rose

Different rose groups require slightly different pruning techniques. Rosa gallica, for example would need different treatment to 'Ernest Calvat' and to musk roses and damask roses.

• 'Madame Ernest Calvat' is a Bourbon rose bred in 1888.

You'll all have different roses at home, but though the technique will vary slightly, the principles of pruning will be the same. I'm going to share those principles with you, and following these, you can't go too far wrong.

Keeping a Rose Young

• The key thing is to keep roses relatively juvenile through pruning, so that you're encouraging new growth all the time.
• Don't be too timid - if you don't prune as hard as you should, the rose will get older and older, flower less and eventually die.
• It's better to be confident, make some pruning cuts and wherever you've done that, the plant will send up new shoots.
• Remember that the plant wants to grow!

How to Prune a Shrub Rose

Because of our milder winters now, the roses are keeping their foliage - even right at the end of November - which makes it trickier to prune.

• Even if it's still in full leaf and got buds on at this time, you have to prune it.
• In some ways, it's handy because you end up taking away any leaves that may have blackspot and would otherwise drop into the bed.
• Pruning from mid-November onwards is perfectly good.

The Process

1. Look at the rose and its overall shape in the bed. Get an idea of what shape you want it to be. Do you want to reduce it a bit or make it shorter?

1. Look for dead, damaged, diseased or crowded material that we might want to prune out. Do this before you start pruning all the growth you want to keep.

1. Get in low down and decide which stems to leave and which to take out to open up a bit.

Deciding Which Stems to Remove

Think about crowding other plants - e.g. a stem coming outwards too far might need pruning back into older wood to allow the neighbouring plants a space to grow into.

• Just prune back to where another stem joins.
• Take out any shoots that aren't productive (e.g. ending in very thin stems that won't flower well) from the base, cutting as low down as you can.
• Remove any very old or poorly formed stems from the base.

This rose has been well pruned for a number of years, but the thick, old central shoot will start to become troublesome, and as I've been pruning it slightly higher each year, it will start to have a long 'bare leg' without any flower or shoots on it.

• You want to avoid the bare leg, so if something is looking old and woody, encourage other, younger shoots coming from the base.

A perfect shoot for helping to keep a plant juvenile is a new one that's grown all the way from the base in one year.

• Prune these quite hard as you want to encourage more shoots from quite low down instead of long, bare stems.
• It feels like you're cutting lots of lovely growth off, but it's perfect because you've got a new shoot from the base that will become the future structure of the plant, which you've now encouraged to branch from low down. That will now branch and form a framework.
• You can also then take out an old shoot if the new one will take its place, or take out an older one next year if you have enough new ones.

Sometimes you need to leave some shoots in with a longer-term aim or vision.

• Pruning isn't just for now; it's for flowers in summer and for future growth.
• Think longer-term - I might leave some shoots in, but I'll make a mental note that I might remove it next year.

Be mindful that you shouldn't take too many out as the bush will become sparse, so it's a compromise.

• Keep stepping back to take a look at the overall shape because there's no going back after you've pruned something off that you weren't completely sure about.

How to Prune the Remaining Stems

Once you've taken out the stems you want to remove, it's time to reduce the height of the stems you're leaving to just a little higher than the previous prune.

1. Look for a change in thickness and direction of the stem, marking the point where it was pruned last year.

• On a rose that's pruned annually, you should also be able to see the pruning points from two and three years back.
• Every year, I allow it to grow an extra 4-6 inches and then prune it.
• Generally, you don't go back into the older wood (lower than a previous year's cut), but you can do if something is badly positioned or looks wrong.

1. Within this year's growth, identify an outward-facing bud, 4-6 inches higher than last year's cut.

• If the leaves are still on the plant, then there's a bud wherever a leaf attaches.
• Ideally, look for a bud that's pointing in the direction that you want the new stem to grow in and fill that space.
• Pruning back to outwards-facing buds gives the open goblet shape you want with a shrub rose.
• When you've done lots, you'll get an instinctive feel for where the right buds are and be able to prune without looking too closely at each one.

1. Make a cut just above this outward-facing bud that slants slightly down and away from the bud.

• The slant away stops moisture draining down into the bud and rotting it.

1. Do the same with any side shoots, cutting both forks of a branched shoot back to a similar level.

1. Continue the same principle across the whole rose.

Shopping

Troy uses tough fingerless gloves for rose pruning, which help to keep hands warm and partially protected from thorns while maintaining dexterity. Similar gloves can be found here:

• Pentagon 1/2 duty mechanic gloves by Military 1st. These are lightweight but sturdy suede gloves that come in a range of sizes for a good fit, and a great choice of colours for gardening. A suede patch on the back offers thorn protection to the knuckles.
• Amp fingerless gloves by The North Face. Also available in a good range of sizes, these lightweight gloves are water-resistant, breathable and have durable leather palms, with velcro that does up on the inside, out of the way.

Troy uses Felco secateurs. Browse the range here.

• There are many models to suit individual gardeners' preferences and needs. The original Felco 2, which Troy is using, is a popular all-rounder, while the 6 is an excellent choice for slightly smaller hands, and the 7 or 12 is great for those who prefer a rotating handle. There are also several left-handed models. You may find this summary chart helpful.

HortiSept can be purchased here.

Further Resources

Further detailed information on pruning shrub and bush roses can be found on the RHS website:

• RHS guide to pruning shrub roses
• RHS guide to pruning modern bush roses (floribundas and hybrid teas)
• RHS guide to different types of roses and general pruning tips

Plant Directory

Iris species and cultivars

Irises

Hardy herbaceous perennials from rhizomes or bulbs

Iridaceae

Rosa × centifolia

Cabbage rose, Provence rose

Hardy deciduous shrub

Rosaceae

Rosa × damascena

Damask rose

Hardy deciduous shrub

Rosaceae

Rosa gallica

French rose

Hardy deciduous shrub

Rosaceae

Rosa 'Madame Ernest Calvat'

'Madame Ernest Calvat' rose

Hardy deciduous shrub

Rosaceae

Glossary

Centifolia roses

Cultivars of Rosa × centifolia, an old shrub rose bred in the 17th century, with large, densely packed, globular blooms and a strong, sweet fragrance that has long been used in perfumery. Also known as cabbage roses or Provence roses, these were bred by hybridising a damask rose with an alba rose.

Bourbon roses

An old (originating in 1818) group of shrub roses with large, very fragrant blooms, popular in the Victorian period.

Damask roses

Cultivars of Rosa × damascena. Another old group of shrub roses, said to have originally been brought to the UK from the Middle East by the Crusaders. Nearly all are fragrant, and the flowers, which are held in open airy bunches, have long been used in perfumery.

Gallica roses

Cultivars of Rosa gallica - short bushy shrub roses in a wide range of colours that are easy to grow and thrive in poor soils. Probably the oldest of all garden roses, these were grown by the Greeks and Romans. In the 17th century, the Dutch started to breed new varieties, which the French continued on a large scale.

Hortisept

A specially formulated horticultural disinfectant that kills bacteria, fungi and viruses, while being sensitive to the environment and the user. It is commonly used to disinfect tools while pruning to prevent spread of disease from one plant to the next.

Moss roses

Centifolia roses that have developed moss-like growth detail on the sepals, the outer layer of the flower that protects the petals when in bud. Arising from a mutation in Rosa × centifolia in 1720, these were very popular in the Victorian period.