Watch this video! Paul owns a very respected nursery (Ashdown Roses). I think he also frequents the forum.

I really enjoyed this video, as well as the 2 follow up ones regarding pruning roses with different structures.
I was excited to follow his instructions this year; unfortunately most of my babies are dead to the mulch this year...SIGH.

Enjoy!

Lara

Here is a link that might be useful: Intro to pruning

Dale, pruning in my part of zone 5 is simplicity itself. You just cut each cane back until you reach white centers on the cut surface. If any of the cane still remains, you bless yourself and go on to the next rose. You could use a chainsaw to prune if it weren't so dangerous and didn't leave such a ragged cut. The only mistake you can make, and it's a common one, is not completing this simple procedure.

Paul's video is excellent but there are lots of theories on how to prune.
Heck there are people who post that they do it with hedge trimmers so I say go for it.
It's actually nice to get out in the garden and just do it.
Have fun with it.

Remember, it's just a plant. Check out the videos, take away what might work for you, discard the rest and use your gardener's instincts.

As Chuck says just do it and have fun!

Dale, if what you have is hybrid teas or floribundas, and this would also apply to most David Austen roses, the only information you need is in Mike Rivers' post. In your climate zone, you will be taking the plant down to the ground or (maybe in a few cases) to the highest point with white center pith. I hope you buried the grafts well or added deep winter protection. Don't be afraid to prune hard when needed. If the plant has not frozen out, it will grow back strongly, about a foot per month.

If you have hardier roses, follow the Zimmerman video for roses that make canes from the base.

There's really not much to it, but rose growers like to make things complicated.

The latest thinking is that it's not necessary to cut at a 45 degree angle. A straight across cut will work just fine. The idea of an angled cut is so water will run off the cut sutface but it also give more surface that must heal. Looking at the way the canes grow most are not straight so a straight across cut on the cane will still leave the cut surface angled to allow water runoff.
If you still must angle the cut, most good pruners, if used and held properly will give you an angled cut automatically.
So, relax. Prune often enough and soon you'll just do it without having to plan each cut.
I use to get down on the ground and look so closely to find a bud to cut above that I'd often get a thorn(prickle) poke on my nose or forehead. Now I stand back, size up the bush, and prune away. Roses are very forgiving so, unless you cut off the bud union, you really can't hurt them.

I came, I read, i gave it some thought and i pruned and i transplanted.. I used a combo of direction(thank you so much), logic, instinct and sense of adventure. I'm thinkin' that one is too tall and one is too short and the last one doesn't look quite right but heck...there's nothing quite as fun as playing in the garden!

Thanks everyone!

Dale

Why the hurry?
We still have chances of freezes and snow.
My 450 bush will not be pruned until early to mid April and I do them all by myself so you had plenty of time.

I have been growing roses for 20 + years and have always used your technique, Dale.
Why do we live in this insane climate?????

I confess to being a prunaphobic when i started growing roses! Soooo i scoured thru every book i could get my hands on to learn the ......"right way". Well i sifted thru all the ideas and went with the tried and true basic and simple rules to pruning.....exactly what the other gardeners above have given...growing roses then became a hobby of which i truely love and have fun.
i have also watched some of the videos put out by Ashdownroses....they are excellent.

carol

Don't worry too much about pruning. Your roses will do fine no matter how you do it - unless you prune below the graft, of course. :-) The biggest mistake most people make is pruning too soon. You should wait until the normal date in your area for the last killing frost. If you prune too early and get some nasty, very cold weather soon thereafter, you may find you have to prune again down lower to get below the damage. Even then, your roses will forgive you and grow just fine. Enjoy them and don't fret.

Yep Phil......been there done that....pruning too soon.
A couple of years ago the weather was so beautiful and of course i had the fever! Well i went out with my pruners and loppers and was so proud of myself.....smiles..only to have a very hard freeze hit us in late april that had me out pruning my roses for the second time......
But as you point out...roses are very forgiving and they put on a great show all season......

carol

In the Northeast a common rule of thumb for knowing when it's time to prune your roses is to wait until the {{gwi:237545}} in your area is blooming. When the Forsythia is in bloom it's time to prune your roses.

OMG how dumb am I? I go bezerk pruning at the angle in this direction, that direction because I was told that we want the new branches to grow a certain way. Reading this thread certainly made pruning a lot more simple. Thanks, Donna

oops. too late on the timing thing. i could swear that i saw the forsythia blooming but now that i think about it i'm thinkin' that because it was in the nursery that it
was forced
btw, the ashdown vidios were great!
sooo if i get another frost am i doomed? What if it just gets super old without a frost?

Pruning at an angle isn't what gets the new branches to grow in a certain direction. The location of the leaf bud just under the cut is what you are looking for. You want to cut above an outward facing leaf bud, so that new cane grows outward. If the leaf bud points into the center of the plant, then the new cane will also grow in that direction. See the photo at the link below, you want that new growth to point outwards (don't be so overworked about the "Too High"/"Too Low" captions on the photo, the rose will be OK either way).

Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning Roses

Dale--

Visible frost, or lack of, has zero significance for roses. Soft new shoots, growth tips, and flowers will be injured when the tissue is chilled to 27-28 F.

Because our springs are slow and erratic, I have new growth injured every year even though I don't prune too early. However, much of this growth is at the top of canes that I will prune off anyway. If I pruned hard and early, freezing would waste bud eyes near the base of the plant and basal shoots from underground-- also would waste more of the plant's stored energy. However, these effects would be suboptimal rather than catastrophic.

Don't worry about it, but next year prune later, maybe mid-April.

Remember that absolutely nothing to do with roses has anything to do with frost dates. Those are merely remarks southerners make to confuse us and make growing roses harder. From what I've seen of the forecasts, there is nothing wrong with pruning even wimpy roses now. That is assuming that there is some magical connection between early pruning and leafing out that is beyond my comprehension. Hardy roses that manage to overwinter good cane do so because they understand about winter. They don't grow too late in the fall or too early in the spring, and an attack by some pruners isn't going to change their mind. For marginal roses, you aren't cutting of live wood anyway. That cane has been gone for months, and the rose shouldn't even be able to know you did anything.

I sure never do worry about angled cuts. I just cut. Its near straight. Its just done. I don't have time to spend looking to see what angle I make cuts, too much to do. It has never made any difference.

I had at giggle at your post..as it turns out I went to a rose class today at my nursery. The woman who lectured is Terri Hiatt and she mentioned people who are afraid to prune. She mentioned a friend who cares for a large flower garden and she said he uses a electric pruner! Roses are not delicate. Be sure to cut weak spindly growth..any branches that cross through the middle. Cut half if it's a Hybrid tea and a third for Floribunda's. If you make a mistake..its okay..it will grow back.

Everybodys posts have been fabulous!
Thank you so much and
Three Cheers for Roses!!

mad gallica--

The "magical connection" is apical dominance, meaning (as of course you already know) that the highest viable or semi-viable buds on a cane will break first, combined with hastiness on the part of repeat-blooming roses, which in my climate will always sprout early and be burnt. If any cane survives above ground, pruning will not magically cause sprouting, but it will cause sprouting lower on the cane than if the cane were not pruned. It may cause early basal breaks (which one certainly does not want to lose).

In the intermediate zones, we always find cane sections that are alive but enfeebled by internal damage. These sections will sprout but they need to be pruned out. With later pruning, you allow them to sprout using energy stores that are partly within that disposable cane segment. With earlier pruning, you force growth from viable cane sections and the crown, wasting energy stores and bud eyes when this premature new growth is frozen.

It may be that this condition never arises in northeastern zone 5 because all wood above grade on repeating roses is always killed stone dead. However, it does arise in midwestern zone 5.

Of course you are right that hardy once-blooming roses rarely or never sprout prematurely. We don't know what kind of roses Dale has.

I have pruned in late December and in March. Either way I find the roses still do well. I prefer March because there is less of a risk of cold damage.

Here is a link that might be useful: How To Prune Roses Short Video