We’re here to help guide how to take care of your roses...
June brings roses to their peak, filling gardens with colour, fragrance, and life. They are some of the most beautiful flowers. But as blooms flourish, an important question arises: to prune or not to prune?
The answer depends on the type of rose bush you have. Pruning at the right time and in the right way can lead to more stunning displays, healthier plants, and a delightful crop of autumn hips.
Three Ways to Approach Summer Rose Pruning:
1. Prune for More Flowers
Repeat-flowering roses, like Modern garden roses, Hybrid teas, Floribundas, and many English shrub roses, thrive with deadheading. By removing spent blooms, you encourage the plant to produce more buds throughout the season. Tip: Snip just above a healthy outward-facing leaf to promote neat, outward growth.
2. Prune to Promote New Wood
Once-flowering varieties, such as rambling roses and old Alba and Gallica roses, benefit from pruning to encourage strong new shoots. These stems will produce flowers next year. Tip: After the main flowering, remove congested branches to make space for new shoots and maintain a balanced structure.
2. Leave for Autumn Hips
Many species roses, also known as wild roses, like Rosa glauca, R. moyesii, and R. Rugosa, should be left unpruned after blooming to form attractive hips in autumn. They add colour, structure, and provide food for wildlife, particularly birds and small mammals, during colder months. Tip: Avoid deadheading these varieties if you want a display of hips, prune in late winter instead.
How We Can Help
At Garden Care, we love roses and know that proper pruning makes a big difference. Whether you need guidance, help rejuvenating an old rose, or managing an entire garden, we’re here for you.
