My impression is that most people do not prune for winter. Maybe an occasional extra long cane is cut back so it doesn't whip around in the winter winds, but late winter/early spring, not autumn, is pruning time (when the forsythia bloom here).

Kate

I will cut my HTs back after the first frost when I'm sure I will not get any more blooms. Especially the ones that have gotten tall and lanky. It is mostly to keep them from whipping around during winter storms and possible breaking off and damaging the plant. Plus it looks a bit neater for the off season.

This is no the 'big prune' that you will do in late winter/early spring.

For your HTs, the consensus for most of the country seems to be what Kate and Buford wrote. The thought is that Fall pruning can stimulate new growth and delay dormancy and ultimately lead to greater winter dieback.

William Baffin is another matter entirely. This rose is hardy as a rock here in zone 5 and I can't imagine that anything you do in the way of pruning this rose in zone 7 is going to change that.

If you live in the south you do not prune for winter, you prune in the spring. However, if your roses are "leggy," and generally tall and out of bounds, you can cut them back 1/3. There is a difference between cutting back and pruning, so in the south, no pruning in the fall.

In east Tennessee some people cut their roses back severely in early October. Often this kills their roses as the roses put out new growth with the rains of Oct and Nove that gets killed by the freezes of Dec. A spurt of new growth in January is the rose's last gasp and that's killed in Feb and March as the final thrust of death. I don't know why they do it. But I see it often and then watch the roses die over the next six months.
And about William Baffin, the plant doesn't need pruning at all. He's hardy and strong and for him you prune to shape, not to minimize or get rid of winter damage (because there probably will be none.)

Last year, we didn't have a freeze until December. I was still getting blooms. I finally did trim my roses back because I was putting up Christmas lights :)

Right now, I am cutting back many of my roses after their bloom. I figure they will be fuller and bushier for the fall flush and less cane/foliage is a good idea in these drought conditions.

It would be sounder to describe what people do in the fall as "topping." The only topping I do is the triffids waving up above the 5 or 6 foot level that whipsaw in winter storms.

Timing can be a problem (tho not in my zone). The rose's ability to form a callous over the cut is impaired by too much dormancy. Do it too soon, and the cut triggers growth if you live far enough south that there's enough daylight. It's a conundrum.

As asthma said, a lot of people do prune severely in the fall, but as Ann suggests, these are people who don't understand roses. They are the yard-keepers who go around in the fall trimming all the shrubs into ugly little muffins.

Berndoodle makes a good point about the timing of topping. One year I topped my hybrid teas in December, and they all got botrytis cankers in the pruning wounds which ran down the canes a foot or so. Dormant roses are not able to protect themselves. This would probably not be an issue in a zone 5 winter that is too cold for fungal activity.

However, I don't want to top while the roses are growing in fall because I would lose bloom. So I don't top, unless an ice storm is forecast.

For people with longer growing seasons, it may be a good idea to top the taller roses around this time of the year. But I try to manage height right along by taking long stems with deadheads as appropriate.

You guys are GREAT! I know you all have been in this forum and been doing your roses for a while and it shows! I thought I had it right about the prunung but I needed the EXPERTS! And mikerivers and anntn6b, you made my day as I did not want to cut Mr. Bill back because I love how big he is! Thank you all so much!