6 Summer Pruning Tips For More Rose Blossoms and Healthier Bushes

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Believe it or not, caring for garden roses needs “pruning” all summer. You probably have accomplished many of these described tasks but not called them “pruning.”

If the essential jobs are done correctly, you’ll enjoy more rose blossoms and have healthier and larger rose bushes.

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Read over these descriptive summer jobs and follow suggestions where necessary:

Blind Wood


This term refers to the absence of a flower bud at the tip of a growing rose shoot. Shoots may be short or long and perfect in every detail except the bud. In its place is a minimal, hard “kernel.” If this hard tip is allowed to remain, no new side shoots will develop.

Whenever you see blind wood, prune the tip down to a healthy five-leaflet. Maintaining a high level of available potassium in the soil can help reduce the number of blind shots on roses.

Short Shoots


New flowering growth will be concise on both spring-planted and some old rose bushes. It is silly to allow these flower buds to open and rob the plant of nutrients—a better plan to pinch off the flower buds while they are the size of a green pea.

Make the pinch or cut back to five or three leaflets. The next shoot should be of greater length and bear a giant flower.

Basal Shoots


These are easily recognized as extra stout shoots above or near the bud union. Even though the shoots are sturdy and bear different large foliage, they seldom produce an acceptable bloom.

All the “vigor” of the shoot went into stem and foliage production; the developing flower bud received little, if any, nutrients and water.

If you can harden your heart to the task, pinch out the growing tip of a basal shoot just before a bud develops or when the bud is the size of a green pea.

Basal shoots are highly desirable as they are the basic framework for next year’s growth.

Flower Removal

If you wish to pick a rose bloom for an arrangement or the rose blossom has faded, remove the blossoms and supporting stem down to a healthy five-leaflet; anyone below the flower will do.

Make the stem cut as close to the five-leaflet as possible. When “stubs” are left, die-back (a fungus disease) starts.

Disbudding

Pinch off all side buds present if you wish for a larger rose bloom. Try to pinch while the buds are tiny. Otherwise, the bud scars will show. These scars, if visible, count against a perfect entry in a flower show.

If the rose variety typically produces flowers in clusters, such as grandifloras, hybrid teas, floribundas, and others, side flower bud removal should not be practiced.

Usually, the top bud opens first in a flower cluster and fades before the lower flower buds open. If you pinch out the entire flower once it fades, the flower buds will last longer.

Rambler Roses

These climbing roses flower in June on overwintered canes. These canes never bloom again. Usually, new basal green shoots appear immediately after the June blooming period. These are the canes that will flower next year.

Related: Pruning Essentials For Climbing Roses

After all blooms fade, the flowering canes could be cut to the ground or down to a point where new shoots appear. — One of the most critical aspects of these summer pruning tasks is the maintenance of healthy rose foliage. Never remove much rose foliage at one time, even entering a rose in a flower show.

Rose foliage is the manufacturing factory of plant “food.” If leaf area is reduced to a danger point, flowering is reduced, new shoot formation is curtailed, and the plant’s general health is threatened.