There are a lot of mass plantings of shrub roses that probably only get one pruning in the early spring, if that. They all seem to continue to grow and bloom just fine all season. There are also a lot of roses growing in old cemeteries and farms that haven't been pruned in decades that are still growing and blooming away. I don't think any rose HAS to be pruned. It's more a matter of our desire for control than a plant need.

roses get pruned without our intervention - grazing animals, snow, wind, disease, age......if we did nothing at all, the roses would be OK - a little tangled, maybe not so prolific, but certainly, as Seil points out, pruning is not like death or taxes (obligatory).

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I wasn't specific enough in my question. I'm not worried about losing the shrub. I have mostly OGRs some of which have never been pruned and they bloom great every year.

I'm wondering if anyone knows how not pruning a modern shrub rose effects its spring flush and/or bloom cycle.

Thanks.

I had a car accident last year and I wasn't able to prune my roses. They still bloomed, but they were lanky and floppy. I tried doing a half prune after the ,first flush, but most of last year they seemed overgrown. Needless to say, I'm hacking everything back to about 18 inches this year...