One thing I've done is to peg the canes--pull them low--so they sprout laterals lower on the canes. Then I'll cut off what used to be the top part once the laterals are mature. This way the plant always has leaves.

I prune our Double red Ko's in the early Spring down to around 15- 18 inches high and they grow back nice and bushy... I'm surprised it got leggy already... Does it get enough sun?

Cool idea Zack!

hummm ok Elizabeth... Just curious... what type fertilizer you use and what type soil you have? Thanks...

I thought maybe there was a reason why it got leggy already. I've heard high nitrogen fertilizer or even hard clay soil can cause those problems...Besides not enough sun...And winterkilled canes that were never pruned out...Rose bush itself not growing right...etc....

I have 7 Double Ko's and 5 are nice and bushy but two of them grew more lanky and runty so I replaced those two this year... (they were 3 years going on 4 same as our other ones came from same vendor and they got plenty of sun and were in good locations...) I transplanted them elsewhere this past late March so they can be runty if they wish now...lol

But yes prune them back and see if that corrects the problem... Hopefully it does :)