Climbing rose bushes pruning
How to Prune an Established Climbing Rose
Pruning is arguably the most important job you can do for your roses. It gives your rose shape, structure and encourages new blooms for the season ahead. In this video our Head Gardener, Steve, will show you how to prune an established climbing rose. When we use the term ‘established’ we mean a rose that has flowered for two or more years.
- To begin, identify the side stems of your rose that you will need to prune. These will be growing off the long, thick stems at the base of the rose which provide the structure. Prune the side stems back to the main stem, leaving around 2 to 3 inches.
- Continue to work across the climber, removing any weak stems completely, as these won’t hold a bloom in the summer. If you notice any dead stems, which will be thick and brown, cut these off at the base of the rose.
Also, make sure to remove any foliage as you prune.
- As you prune your way across the climber you will notice new, strong stems that require tying-in. Tying the stems of your rose to its supporting structure helps it to climb, keeping it secure and preventing the stems from breaking. Steve recommends wrapping flexi-tie or garden twine around the supporting structure first and then tying in the stem to ensure stability. These strong stems will add further structure to your climber and will carry blooms when the season arrives.
WHEN TO PRUNE
We recommend pruning in late winter/early spring, when the first growth is beginning. This is generally between February and April. It is ok to prune earlier, but it can be more difficult to identify the less healthy stems that you will want to prune out.
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Pruning Climbing Roses - FineGardening
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It’s best not to procrastinate when it comes to pruning climbing roses. Whether climbing roses are grown on a wall, fence, trellis, post, or pillar, I recommend pruning them every year not only to keep your climbers from overwhelming their supports but also to spare you the frustration of dealing with an overgrown snare of canes. Your roses will reward you with robust growth and more flowers.
Diseased branches are the first to go
Most climbing roses bloom at least twice each growing season: first on older branches and then on the current season’s growth. Pruning them while dormant in mid to late winter will encourage plenty of late-season flowers. I like to begin my pruning by removing as much foliage as possible from each rose. This helps prevent disease by removing dormant fungal spores and allows me to see the rose’s branching structure as I prune.
Once I can see what I’m dealing with, I remove any diseased, injured, or spindly branches, cutting them away flush with the cane from which they emerge. If any of the older, woody canes have failed to bloom well during the previous season, I will prune them off too. Any canes that have outgrown their support will get a preliminary trim to set them back inbounds. I will also remove any crossing or awkwardly placed branches.
Prevent the spread of disease
Disinfect your pruning shears before moving on to the next plant by dipping them into a 25 percent bleach solution, rubbing them with an antiseptic wipe, or spraying them with a commercial disinfectant.
Step back before moving on
After pruning undesirable branches, I’ll step back, have a look at what remains, and choose the branches that will form the plant’s main framework for the upcoming season. I look for strong, healthy canes with plenty of swelling buds or side shoots (called laterals).
I’ll need enough vigorous canes at various heights to cover the support from top to bottom without crossing. Any branches that don’t meet my criteria are removed.
I prefer to prune and train the lowest of the chosen canes first. I unfasten each branch one by one and trim it to fit the support, making sure I cut far enough back to account for new growth. I then shorten each of the lateral shoots down to two to five buds, always cutting about ¼ inch above, and parallel to, a bud. I then reattach the main branch to the support, keeping it as close to horizontal as I can. Since climbing roses have no tendrils, rootlets, or twining stems to help them cling to their support, they need our help to stay in place. I prefer plastic ties that stretch as the canes grow, but plastic-coated wire ties are fine, too, as long as they are tied loosely, with plenty of room for the branch to expand. If any branch still projects beyond the support once it’s attached, I’ll finish by trimming away the excess.
Don’t forget to take a few steps back after pruning and training each main branch. Otherwise, you may get so involved in cutting and placing the branch you’re working on that you lose sight of the plant’s overall shape. Remember that the end goal is a climbing rose that decorates its support without overwhelming it.
Part 1: Prune out old and undesirable branches
| Old canes become less productive and produce fewer and smaller blooms. | Crossing branches should be removed. If you have to make a choice, keep the younger, more vigorous branch. |
Part 2: Trim what’s left with a framework in mind
| Lateral branches should be cut back to two to five buds. | |
| Cut about ¼ inch above the bud. Leaving too much dead wood above could lead to disease, but too little can damage the bud. | |
Horizontal canes mean more flowers. The uppermost bud on a branch secretes hormones to repress the growth of those below. If a cane is horizontal, no bud has dominance, so all the buds grow and bloom. |
Types of frameworks for roses
| Wide, horizontal surfaces. Roses bloom most profusely when their canes run horizontally, so climbers trained onto walls, fences, or trellises perform best when a number of long branches fan across the face of their support in broad arches. | |
| Narrow trellises or walls. If space is limited, I prefer to train roses in a zigzag pattern to keep as much of the cane as possible horizontal. | |
| Posts and pillars. Roses growing on a post or pillar usually look best with just two or three canes wrapped in gentle spirals around the support. |
The objective in pruning climbers is to clothe their supports in a framework of healthy, vigorous growth, which will produce a large quantity of quality blooms in the upcoming season.
TIP: Don’t forget to remove suckers from a grafted rose
If I’m pruning a bud-grafted rose, I’ll check the base of the plant for any suckers growing from the rootstock below the bud union—a knobby, swollen mass at or near the soil surface. Pruning rootstock suckers yields temporary results, so I remove them by yanking sharply downward near the point where they emerge from the plant. This removes all of the bud tissue from which the sucker grew. If these suckers are allowed to persist, they will eventually overwhelm the upper, grafted portion of the plant.
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How to Prune Climbing Roses
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Secrets of the correct pruning of climbing roses
The ever-growing popularity of climbing roses is explained by its high decorative effect, long and abundant flowering, unpretentiousness in care.
These plants serve as a worthy decoration in many gardens as an original element of not only horizontal, but also vertical installations. The charm of a fragrant blooming canopy instantly turns a modest and ordinary flower garden into a fragrant piece of paradise. With the help of the inexhaustible possibilities of climbing roses, you can create fancy hedges, decorate author's trellises, decorate arches and pergolas, columns and verandas.
However, climbing roses are ready to reveal their limitless decorative potential if one but important condition is observed: competent and timely seasonal pruning of plants. Pruning of climbing roses, performed taking into account all the recommendations of experienced agronomists, will bring worthy results in the form of a spectacular blooming living wall along garden buildings or other elements of country decor.
The need to prune climbing roses
Beginner gardeners often ask themselves: why is it necessary to prune climbing roses? Let shrubs that naturally have long shoots delight the eye with their unbridled growth and flowering, otherwise what is the point in planting voluminous bushes? However, do not confuse the concepts of "voluminous" and "dimensionless": uncontrolled growth of shoots will turn the garden, even if crowned with beautiful flowers, into impenetrable thickets that have an untidy and neglected appearance.
Climbing rose stems without proper care can grow up to several meters in length, depriving the hedge of its trademark charm and color. In addition, ignoring the procedure for pruning shrubs often turns into a lack of full-fledged flowering: the plant spends all its strength on the formation of new shoots, and not on the development of buds and their further opening.
Seasonal pruning of plants is designed to solve important practical and decorative tasks, namely:
- formation of a reliable skeletal base and the desired direction of shrub branches;
- removal of unproductive stems and old and damaged shoots;
- normalization of lighting access and air flow to shrub segments located in the thick of branches;
- removal of wilted and faded buds;
- activation of the growth of the vegetative mass;
- increase in the flowering period of shrubs;
- prevention of diseases and epidemics;
- preparation for shelter for the winter.
An important feature of the climbing rose is its ability to self-rejuvenate, which consists in the ability to produce young shoots that gradually replace the old ones. Sometimes even a little gardener's work to remove the oldest shoots helps climbing garden queens look elegant and flawless.
General recommendations for pruning climbing roses:
- The best time for pruning is a dry sunny day.
- the pruning procedure should be carried out using clean and as sharp garden tools that do not leave cracks, tears, scraps of living tissue on the stems. For this, a garden knife, a pruner, a brush cutter, a special saw, which must be disinfected, will fit.
- shoots are cut at an angle of 45 degrees in the direction opposite to the kidney: this will save the plant from excess rain moisture.
- when choosing a cut point, it is necessary to focus on healthy large buds on the outside of the stem so that future shoots grow outward, and not inside the bush.
- from each kidney, you can leave only one shoot, the rest are recommended to be cut off.
- during pruning, it is important to leave at least 5-8 mm of the stem above the bud, which is necessary for the full formation of the future shoot.
- when carrying out sanitary pruning, it is worth making sure that a diseased or thin shoot is removed to a healthy base, and that no damaged or infected tissue remains on the stem.
- stems at the very base of the shrub, strewn with many small leaves, should also be pruned: if root shoots are left, the plant may “run wild”.
- cut points are treated with garden pitch or any disinfectant: copper sulphate, potassium permanganate solution, wood ash, activated carbon.
- all pruned shoots, healthy and diseased, must be burned.
Climbing roses pruning order
Some types of climbing roses can bloom only on the shoots of the previous year, while others can also bloom on the shoots of the current year.
Once flowering plants form buds on the last year's shoots. Such shrubs are formed from 6 - 10 stems, which include from 3 to 5 annual shoots and from 3 to 5 two-year-old shoots, which will become the place of bud formation. The formation of such shrubs is carried out mainly by summer pruning.
Roses that bloom repeatedly have a somewhat more complex bush structure and character. The number of flowers formed on the shoots of past years decreases only by the fifth year of the life of the stem, and such roses bloom perfectly on the shoots of the second, third, fourth and even fifth year. Such plants do not need annual pruning of the basal branches: on the contrary, they need the opportunity to develop the main shoots during the first three to four years. Usually such stems are cut to the base after the first four years of their growth. When forming a bush of a re-flowering rose, the following scheme is followed: the plant should have 3-7 main flowering stems, and the annual growth of young branches should not exceed 1-3 branches, which in the future will take the place of old shoots.
Re-blooming roses undergo formative pruning in the spring.
If a novice florist is afraid of getting confused in the varieties of his climbing roses and is not sure about the chosen scheme for pruning shrubs, he should be guided by a simple universal rule. During the spring and summer pruning, you can remove as many shoots from previous years as the plant has released new lashes at its base.
Seasonal pruning of climbing roses
Depending on the season of the procedure, pruning of climbing roses is divided into spring, summer and autumn pruning.
During planting, plants practically do not need special pruning, only if necessary, dried or damaged stems, as well as weak unpromising lashes, are removed from roses. In plants of the first year in late summer or early autumn, it makes sense to pinch the branches a little. During the first two years of the shrub's life, minimal sanitary pruning is carried out. And only with the age of the plant, after it has formed a reliable skeleton, sanitary pruning is supplemented with rejuvenating procedures aimed at increasing the decorativeness of the shrub.
Spring pruning
Spring pruning is done immediately after removing the winter shelter from the shrub. Do not wait for the buds to swell and leaves to appear. Plants that survived the winter require not only sanitary pruning, but also radical measures to stimulate growth, rejuvenate the rose and form a shrub.
Although formative pruning for climbing roses is considered a very conditional measure: in climbing roses, thin stems are shortened in order to stimulate their growth. The final stage of spring pruning is straightening and direction. The stems are tied to a special supporting structure not immediately, but after waiting for them to grow. After the young shoots grow, the shoots of the previous years are directed along the support: the bulk of the flowers will bloom on them.
Summer pruning
Pruning roses in summer has only one purpose: control of flowering. Summer pruning can be called regulating: for once flowering plants, it ensures the full formation of replacement shoots, and for re-flowering plants, the quality of the subsequent flowering wave.
Autumn pruning
Pruning roses in autumn includes a simple set of preparatory measures that will help plants survive the winter more easily. Basically, autumn pruning comes down to removing diseased, unripened or weakened shoots.
For climbing queens of the garden, which play an important decorative role in any space, timely removal of flowers that lose their appearance is necessary. No need to wait for the moment when the flowers completely wither, losing all their petals in the wind. Pruning the faded parts of the plant at the right time will help the plant conserve strength and prevent new stems growing from replacement points from being fragile and weak. In climbing roses with dense inflorescences, inflorescences are pruned entirely at the moment when the last blooming flower begins to fade.
Pruning of flowers is carried out not at their very base, but a little higher, leaving short stumps. All material removed from plants, including individual flowers and whole inflorescences, as well as leaves and stem fragments, must be destroyed.
Caring for climbing roses after pruning
A worthy finale to spring and summer pruning is traditional top dressing, which stimulates their further active growth. In addition, in dry summers, additional moistening of shrubs is recommended, which contributes to the intensity of the further development of young shoots.
High-quality cultivation of climbing roses is unthinkable without pruning, the main goals of which are to create a beautiful shape of the shrub, ensure generous and long flowering, and prevent plant diseases. It is competent pruning that helps to use the decorative potential of climbing roses to the fullest, providing an almost continuous coverage of the garden object near which shrubs grow with flowering stems of roses.
Climbing rose care and pruning
The key to the lush flowering of climbing roses is not only careful care (regular watering, top dressing), but also the correct timely pruning. In this article, we will reveal the secrets of climbing beauties, taking into account varietal characteristics.
What are climbing roses - description of varieties
- Rambler - climbing roses that bloom on young shoots of the current season. Give long flexible stems up to 10 meters long. The flowers are small, usually double. Gathered in lush clusters, often numbering up to 80 flowers. The peak of flowering begins from the third or fourth year of life. Flowering is single - long and plentiful. In the first year of life, they do not bloom, but only build up the root system, capturing the space allotted to them. Ramblers are climbing roses. In favorable conditions, they grow so powerfully that they can capture the entire space of a small garden. The disadvantages include only extreme susceptibility to powdery mildew.
- Climbers (Large-flowered Climber) - large-flowered roses that bloom on the shoots of the first or second year of life. They have tough thick stems. They bloom profusely, give a second wave on the shoots of the current season, extending from the tough old stems.
Climbers are climbing roses. - Climbing roses of various groups, grouped under the subclass Climbing. Found among old varieties of roses. Flowers can be simple and double, small- and large-flowered, shoots - curly and climbing.
Climbing roses of the Rambler class - features of planting, care and pruning
The susceptibility of ramblers to the incidence of powdery mildew obliges them to be planted in open areas with free air circulation. Avoid placing landing near the blank walls of buildings. Spray, loosen and fertilize regularly to prevent moisture loss. The organic NPK-complex "nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium" in the ratio of 3:5:2 will significantly increase the viability and resistance of climbing beauties to diseases. To combat powdery mildew and other bacterial infections, Fitosporin, Alirin, Topaz KE have proven themselves well.
Pruning is carried out immediately after flowering. Shoots older than two years are cut out completely.
In early spring, the lateral stems are shortened, leaving 10-15 cm in length. With the advent of autumn, young shoots are pinched, leaving 3-4 apical leaves (this way they will better endure wintering).
Peculiarities of care and pruning of Climber climbing roses
Most often they are used to create arches, arbors and pergolas, landscaping fences and other vertical structures. Rigid thick stems create some difficulties in organizing a winter shelter, so climbers suffer more from frost and mechanical injuries (the stems are quite difficult to bend to the ground without damaging them).
- Basic pruning is done in spring. Long stems are shortened to give the bush a compact shape. Young shoots are pruned to a healthy upper bud. The lateral ones are shortened, leaving no more than two or three buds.
- In the summer, after flowering, all dried inflorescences are removed - to the nearest true leaf.
- Climbers are not pruned in autumn.
- In preparation for winter, remove weak and unripe parts of the shoots.
- Roses of the fourth year of life undergo rejuvenating pruning: one or two old shoots are selected and completely removed.
General rules for the care and planting of climbing roses
- The soil must be nutritious and have a slightly acidic reaction - pH=6.0-6.5. The layer of fertile soil must be at least 30 cm.
- Depleted soil can be improved by the application of organic matter (compost, peat, leaf humus) and phosphate fertilizers. Heavy clay - loosen with coarse river sand.
- Provide good drainage. Planting in wetlands adjacent to groundwater is unacceptable.
- When planting, the root neck is placed 6-8 cm below ground level.
In spring, roses are fed with fertilizers with a predominance of nitrogen (promotes the growth of green mass). In summer and autumn - with a predominance of phosphorus and potassium. Foliar top dressing (spraying bushes) is carried out in the early morning or late evening (after sunset).
