? I prune mine every day. I go out every morning and clip every finished bloom back to fresh growth, sometimes it's 4" sometimes fresh growth is clear back to the main stem a foot or more. It's getting near the end of the season now so the plant is yellowish but at least not straggly. "SNIP! snip! SNIP! If you have left it 'till now it's likely gone into seed-making-mode and I'd think just leave it make seeds. But if you have a couple more months of warm weather; "WHACK! whack! WHACK IT BACK!" GH-

Hmm, I just googled this the other day. I told myself THIS would be the year that I would finally prune my roses, and that THIS would be the year that I would not let pruning intimidate me. I read a few sites on pruning, tried less successfully to find tips for climbing roses, grabbed my shears, marched out the to garden.... and proceeded to snip of the dead ends of the branches. Yes, ends, as in one or two inches. Sigh. I am such a wimp. I did cut out the dead branches, and there is one bush that is really weak and so I pruned that back fairly hard (not that there was much left to prune). I'm hoping it comes back with a vengeance if for no other reason than to help me get over my pruning fears. I was at a loss with my climbing rose, though. I'm going to go take a look at the links Molie provided, and maybe go back out there with the shears.... :) Dee

Climbers should not be prune for three years so that they can put out tall canes. The little pruning is required appart from the removal of dead or very old wood plus dried out tips. Lateral branches on wood which has flowered can be cut back under the blooms to three inches. If the climber is outgrowing its alloted space then these canes can be cut back to fit.

Glad to help! If you're happy with how the rose looks there's not usually a wrong way to do such things. In my yard, I probably am not as enthusiastic about cutting my laterals way back unless they're actively annoying me, since I want to keep the laterals as the blooming canes when convenient. I just bend those laterals sideways like I bend the main cane sideways, and then the laterals put out more laterals that put out more laterals...and the climber starts building that fan shape. You don't have to do that, but it helps increase the blooming over time. Those skinny lateral canes will fatten up if you leave them, rather than making that cane start over to produce new blooming canes. Not wrong to remove them if they bug you, but there's a tradeoff in blooming profusion and frequency. I also don't cut back canes where the leaves are unsightly since you want maximum canes to support more leaf and bloom development. If you can't stand the sight of the leaves it's OK to remove them, but the plant still benefits from the leaves even if there are holes. There's some sort of formula for maybe 35 leaves to support one bloom to keep in mind to increase blooming. Not set in stone of course, but I like to leave as many healthy canes and tolerable leaves as possible when pruning. Sounds like you did a great job getting things tidied up. Having a garden that brings you joy is part of the point of the activity and it sounds like you were getting tired in a good cause. Cynthia