I prune my roses once a year, in the winter. I get a good spring flowering, but often not much of a fall rebloom, and I'm wondering whether a second lighter pruning in summer would encourage a more generous repeat flowering. I'm thinking particularly of the warm climate climbers, which are mature strong-growing plants.

The problem is that I don't water my roses and summers here are dry. I worry that if I pruned the roses, they might lose growth that they need to store energy, and not be able to replace it if not watered. Sometimes we get enough rain in early fall to encourage good repeat bloom, and, sometimes we don't. If I did a summer pruning, when would be a good time? Spring bloom runs through June. I'm willing to write off summer flowers, since it's too hot anyway to go out and admire them. Would pruning in August be a good idea? We generally get the best of the fall flowers in October.

Thanks for your thoughts.