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1st spring with new roses - need a little pruning advice.

15 years ago

Hey all - we planted quite a few shrub roses last summer in our new yard. All the varieties that we got are winter hardy, rated zone 4 or lower, and are shrub roses.

So this is my first spring with them. From reading books and websites, it seems the consensus is to not prune shrub roses (other than dead wood) the first few years so that they have time to establish themselves. So here is my plan and questions:

1. I will not do any pruning other than cutting off dead wood.

2. I'm not exactly sure how to identify dead wood. Any suggestions?

3. The leaves didn't fall off my rose bushes last year. They're still all connected and brown. I'm not sure a) if this is normal and b) if I should now leave them or go ahead and pull them off.

Thanks so much for your help, please let me know any questions. The varieties I have include Winnepeg Parks, Champlain, Sunrise Sunset, Paint the Town, Pavement snow, Marie Bugnet, meidiland ruby, seafoam and a few others.

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Comments (2)

catsrose
15 years ago
Don't worry about the leaves; they will fall off on their own. Black canes are a sure sign of dead from freezing. Otherwise, you probably won't have much dead wood this soon. You can prune dead wood any time; once the roses have leafed out, dead wood is pretty obvious. So, relax and wait.

The reasons for pruning dead wood: aesthetics, help light and airflow, insect control. These are all important, but roses can live for years with dead wood, so you aren't a bad mommy if you miss some or even if you don't get around to it this year or next.
AnneCecilia z5 MI
15 years ago
Regarding pruning in zone 4, it is still too early. If you wait a bit longer it will be much easier to see where (and if at all) you need to cut after the plant starts leafing out - any die-back on canes will be more obvious. Color of the cane is not always a good indicator (although black is always dead!) Most important with your roses will be to inspect the canes for injury, and if you find any splits, broken canes or other damage be sure to prune below that spot. Hoping damage (like a lengthwise split) will heal is rarely a good choice - it's just a place for disease to enter the rose. Otherwise, I'd leave them alone to continue maturing. As far as the dead leaves, IME whatever dried foliage hangs on over winter detaches when the new leaf buds begin to push out. If any is left when I'm doing my spring inspection/pruning, I just brush it off with my gloved hand.
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