Autumn workshop · article 3
Should you prune roses in autumn?
The word 'pruning' often covers three different jobs, and because of that bushes are cut back too low before winter.
Short answerIn autumn you need sanitary pruning and, if necessary, a moderate shortening of shoots that the wind sways. The main shaping of most repeat-flowering shrub roses is left until late winter or early spring.
Sanitary
Remove dead, broken and clearly diseased parts back to healthy tissue, using clean tools.
Technical
Overlong shoots are shortened slightly or tied in, so the wind does not rock the roots.
Shaping
How hard to prune is decided in spring, after assessing the winter and according to the rose group.
Don't trim them all the same way
Climbers, ramblers, once-flowering old garden roses and modern shrub roses each follow different rules. Heavy, one-size-fits-all pruning can take away future flowering.