I totally agree with Austin. I hard prune all my DA roses (except those trained as climbers) in winter and they bounce back in Spring with a lot of vigour and flowers!

I do what works for me. I believe your zone can have a lot to do with when you prune. In my case, it's in the middle to late March. If I prune earlier, I risk a lot more frost damage to new growth. If a plant needs rejuvenation, I might hard prune, removing thick, dark, unproductive canes completely, and more hard cutting back of older canes. Generally, I don't hard prune--I picky prune. It takes me a long time because I analyze almost every cut, and how I want to do it. Because I have some huge roses with thick canes, I have to use loppers as often as pruners. Sigh--all those expensive pruners I own don't get used enough. Diane

I do more or less what Austin does there, which is written for our local conditions, and I think it's fair to say, because of our smaller gardens, close neighbours etc. we tend to have a culture of pruning and controlling more than those in warmer climates, who also grow different roses in any case and are able to allow them to develop to sizes we would be uncomfortable with.

I prune in late Autumn, quite ruthlessly with most roses including climbers, [I've just reduced 'Ghislaine de Feligonde' for instance], and when I see a long cane arise on a shrub rose, like he suggests, I prune that shorter in most cases, as I really don't like the look. 'Munstead Wood' would be a case in point there...

..horses for courses I suppose...?

I prune at the 1st sign of spring with no more chance of hard frosts. I think anyone with freezing winters has to wait until the early spring to prune. I sometimes prune a bit extra while deadheading too. After leaving the Austin's for the season to do their thing. I realized last week that I needed to hard prune some of the extra long canes. It just looked odd to have a nice rounded shape with 1 or 2 canes jutting out a few feet above the shape. As for Abraham darby I remember reading on the site that they recommended summer pruning to encourage it.

I hard prune my HT and DA in February, usually around the 14. It doesn't seem to bother them at all. I am in Texas with very mild winters.

In north Texas I always prune late February. In Galveston I did it on valentines. I usually only cut back 1/3 on all my non climbers.

So does Austin's area (beside Wales) not get the hard freezes? I have 3 more of his books to read. Maybe his advice will change.

I have been lightly pruning Heritage, Abraham D., and Evelyn. In my mild winter zone things are going to change! I had believed hard pruning was going to discourage bloom. Now I'll be following Fragrancenutte's practice.

Good input. Thanks.

edit: the 3 newish Austins prompted my delving into this. I don't want them to be monsters.