So this won't get lost in an edit, notice there are still dead branches in there, not those on the ground that need to be raked. I still have a lot of cleaning inside of them to do.

I can't till from the photos since I can't blow them up enough to see. Have you heard of RRD/RRV. May I ask what state you live in. It may not be rose rosette but it would help to see up close photos of damage. In order to eliminate that as a possible problem.

Oakley, I was able to get a peak at some bottom growth and there are stems that are starting to grow in circle, I'm guessing that you may be from Oklahoma?

LOL, how can you tell by the stems that I'm in OK? The Rose isn't diseased at all, it just had a lot of dead branches inside because of the drought, and I also let it get a bit overgrown. The stems you see weren't getting light because they were hidden.

I've already cut off healthy branches that were already several feet into the driveway. But the plant is fine, I just need to shape it.

Should I cut those bare stems pretty far down? I'll do a lot of cutting on the top & back of the Roses when it's finished blooming. It's full of buds right now, and this type of Rose doesn't have rosette's. It's more of an open flower.

Looking at the picture again, those long limbs are side shoots which is why they're leaning. I think I'll cut them off because I don't want any going in that direction. They must have been desperate for light! :)

I would say at this point you are doing a complete rejuvenation prune. If you have not pruned them in 7 years they probably could use a nice haircut. My drifts & carpet roses get pruned to just a few inches every spring. Usually due to winter kill or rabbits. They bounce back quite well. It would have been better to tackle this earlier in spring in your zone, before they leaf out. But if you have already done the hacking and it's a mess, you may as well commit to cutting them back to a uniform size for all 3. I can't tell from your pic how big they really are. Maybe cut to a foot or so, just make sure all 3 are uniform. You still have lots of growing season to get them looking nice. Good luck!

Oakley,

Do what HalloBlondie recommended. It's excellent advice. You will be glad you did. Your roses will recover and bloom wonderfully. You gotta reduce the cane lengths to about a foot high from the crown. The dead canes get cut down to the crown.

BTW, the planting of Carpets in front of Knockouts is a great combo. You may want to reduce the Knockouts, too, to balance the planting.

Moses

Hallo, thanks for the advice. Yes, I am desperately wanting to give them a buzz cut. lol. I have pruned each summer but not much. Last summer I didn't for some reason. I just cut them down about a foot each year, not much at all. Big mistake.

I did begin this project before they leafed out, I did the three across the sidewalk first, did other roses, and this one last.

Since they all have buds on them, should I wait until they're finished blooming or go ahead and do it now? I probably should do it now because once that heat sets in, I'm only good at holding the hose. :)

Moses, what do you mean to reduce the Knockouts? Cut them lower after I cut the carpets? That I can do because I don't want them towering too high over the carpets.

For great color and no work, until pruning season, the combination of the two is perfect.

Cori, you're right, they definitely don't get the recognition they deserve. I live in the country and when I see people in town they always compliment me on my roses, as if they're hard to grow. I'll keep letting them think that.

Oakley,

To balance the bed take the Knockouts down as far as you think necessary, removing the oldest, less productive canes and the dead ones down to the crown. You keep the thickest, greenest canes.

Moses

Thank you for this post! I have an ancient (about 26 yrs old) planting - sort of a low hedge - of carpet roses out by the street. I had just been shearing the top of it for years - it was really neglected. Last week (we are in a situation weather wise where the soil is still nice and soft to pull weeds, but it has been over 90 degrees for 3 days, so that will not last long, so we are weeding madly) my DH attacked the bed, and dug out the weeds. Some of the weeds were tree seedlings, iris foetida (which I love, but it spreads everywhere), "corn lillies", which evidently floated into that bed from the street storm gutter, etc. So, now I have a bed with only scraggly carpet roses - have been trying to decide what to do next. Now I know! Cut them back! There are some bare spots from where some of the oldest bushes died (they tip root, so they have been making new babies occasionally, and renewing the hedge - very cool).

However, a neat thing happened while my DH was weeding. He was raking the street tree leaf litter off the sidewalk right next to their bed, and discovered that there were three little new carpet roses which had rooted in the leaf litter (this could only happen because we had continuous rain for several months). All I had to do was cut the small canes which still connected them to their parent plants, and pot them up. They all had root massed about 4 inches by 7-8 inches! So, now I have baby plants to fill in the bare spots. I agree - these roses are truly amazing, and do not get enough credit! (probably because they were originally marketed in those silly pink plastic pots!)

Jackie

Jackie, that's exciting, and perfect for filling in those spots. I'm whispering as I say this. I bought mine on a whim from QVC. lol. I had no idea they'd grow so fast! I bought rose food with my order and they went nuts. I haven't fed them in years, so after this big trim coming up, I'll probably start back up.