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Minnesota Gardening

How should I prune these rose bushes?

16 years ago

Late summer 2005 we had our garden revamped by a landscaper. She planted two small Knockout (?) Rose bushes. They were about 18" above ground when planted. I thought they were going to be compact bushes. Last year they grew a lot and have turned into tall messy things. They each have fewer than 10 stems up to four feet high. I am wondering if I can/should prune them back to something more neat. I think there are already tiny leaf buds starting already. What can I do to manage these roses? How much can I prune them?

Here are some blurry pictures I took today from my cell phone. (You can also see I need to clear out the fall's leftovers. :-) )

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

primgal36
16 years ago
Shape them how you want to. These are pretty hardy I hear. I have some I just planted in the fall so I'm excited to see what they do. If it were any other type, I'd wait awhile longer, personally, I don't remove any mulch until towards the end of May, had many cold snaps that has taken some of mine out prior- so I've learned.
You can shape them however you like and to the desired height- might slow bloom time, but they'll bounce back quickly I'm sure.
Good luck.
elleni
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks primgal36. I guess I'll shorten the highest stems. Now, how do I prune them? I have read about pruning, but I think I need a visual guide. Any links?
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I'm in a similar growing zone and have 300 shrub roses. Many are green to the tips and require only tip pruning. Others, I remove the dead wood as far as needed to reach good wood. If that requires pruning to a few inches, that's what I have to do. Explorers and hybrid rugosas are pruned to shape and keep in bounds. Depending on the amount of room they have and how I want them to look, determines how much I prune. If I had the one pictured. I'd shape it with a pair of hedge clippers then go back and remove any dead or damaged wood. In our area, the 1/3 method is not necessarily the best method. I think that's good in warm growing areas where there is little dieback. The rabbits got a few of mine too, I clean those up and by late May or early June, mine are all blooming. Some of the shorter pruned bushes take longer to reach their usual size but I have time!
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Did he buy 'Climbing Golden Glow', or the bush form (just called 'Golden Glow')? In either event, newly planted roses DO NOT need to be pruned, or trained - just leave it alone. It is busy growing new roots. This takes a while. Make sure it does not go without water very long. You can deadhead the old blooms of you want. (That means just cut off the dead flower or developing hip where the flower was - no more). This will encourage it to bloom more. If it is the Cl Golden Glow, eventually (in a year or two) it will start to put out large long new climbing canes. They will get very long very fast. That is when you can start to train it. Let the new climbing canes alone long enough so that they are not so soft that you will damage them. Then, when they are no longer soft, you can tie them gently to a support. The more horizontally you are able to tie them, the better. They will sprout new growth that will bloom all along their length. Good Luck! Jackie
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Pruning is not the problem. It's keeping it in the house that's causing them to die. Roses are not house plants...EVER! These little gift minis are grown and sold as florist roses and the growers actually mean for them to be disposable. That's not to say they need to be. They're regular roses and if planted out in the garden and given proper care can and do grow for many years. For right now you need to just remove all the spent blooms, nothing more. Put it in the most light you can find in your house. Find a tray of some kind (I've used cake pans) and fill the bottom with pebbles. Put water in the pebbles to just below their tops and place the pot on top of the pebbles. You do not want any water to be touching the bottom of the pot. This will raise the humidity around the rose without over watering it. Be careful to keep it just damp and never soggy wet. Hopefully you'll be able to keep it going this way until spring when you can get it outside. It will do so much better out there.
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Four Easy Steps to Pruning Cut out all dead canes right to the ground Cut out all diseased canes or ones damaged by rubbing against others, back to healthy wood. Healthy wood when cut looks like a green apple. Remove any stems thinner than a pencil thickness as they will only produce poor blooms. Prune back the canes left according to the type of rose. A general rule of thumb for most bush roses is cut back by one third.
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primgal36
16 years ago
elleni, it's pretty basic. Here's what you do. Cut back any parts that are brown and hollow, you will know. If it's green and fleshy, it's good. This will only revitalize and stimulate growth. You really can't hurt them.
There are many books you cna get at Half-Price books, or go to the library or the Horticultural Society has an extensive library. You can also go to the garden centers, they often have free handouts, or free classes. Noble is excellent.
If you like roses, get more of them, they really aren't that hard to care for. I use Bayer 3-1 for roses. I apply it 3 times during the season and it works pretty well. Also if you can ,don't water them overhead, but if you do, do it early in the morning so the leaves have time to dry out with the sun.
Wear gloves when you prune, I've heard k/o's thorns are pretty wicked.
I wish you lots of luck this season, hopefully I didn't throw too much at you, but don't stress to much, plants are forgiving.
Have a good day.
selkie_b
16 years ago
elleni,

Best way to know exactly what is dead? Wait a couple more weeks! I have many rose bushes - the best way I have found to decide where and what to cut is to wait until they have leaf buds on them and cut off anything beyond those - it'll be dead. Then, it's a matter of shaping to what you like. "Knock out" tends to be kind of a pillar rose - long whippy stems that kind of waterfall - make sure you cut just above bud unions at a slight diagonal and it should start to bush out more.

Best gloves? More expensive - but the best rose gloves are real kidskin at least on the palms. Rose thorns'll go through regular leather and any cloth. I hear that "Foxgloves" work too, but I haven't tried those. I use GardensAlive! rose food for mine, though I seem to have a wonderful compromise with the wildlife in winter. I let the bunnies and snowshoe hares trim the bottoms of the bushes and they leave me - well - the bottoms of the bushes in one of the best forms of fertilizer there is: bunny poo! :)

-Marie

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