Would a little trim hurt? Probably not.

Well, not really a little trim, I'm planning on taking about 1/3 of the growth off of the roses. Would that hurt them, or would it be best to continue letting them grow?

I've heard Antique Teas and chinas and noisettes don't want any pruning. More modern roses and grafted roses, it would be OK. Own root, better to avoid pruning first 2-3 years.

In my first year of growing roses I was scared of cutting them back .Now after 2 years ,whenever I see a bush growing not to my liking or throwing octopus canes I whack it down , even young plants .The roses grow back quickly .

I’m also in TX, and considering pruning my modern roses early. I agree, we won’t likely have a deep freeze, and rose growth, even new growth, doesn’t seem bothered by a light frost. There is a small chance we get the deep freeze, then we have to prune lower, we take some loses in that the bushes lost some of their energy, but I doubt anything dies (again, this is zone 8).

I also agree pruning newer plants is OK. Think of the folks in zone 4 or 5...their rose’s canes die nearly down to the ground often (now, that’s a hard pruning) and so long as the plant didn’t freeze to death it comes back fine. Those hard freezes don’t discriminate whether the plant is one year old or 10 years old.

One caveat is Fortuniana grafted roses. I’ve heard their massive root systems don’t like it if there is not enough plant on top to support them.

I'm also in Texas and my plan is to prune the weekend after Valentine's Day, I prune my roses at that time every year and they always do very well regardless of the weather.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Another question: A lot of the roses are growing in wild configurations because of the fact that I haven't been pruning to shape this whole time. It's not ever going to become impossible to prune them to an aesthetic shape as a result, is it? How much of a rose can you safely prune without killing it (or rather, is it possible to kill a rose with too much pruning, or do most roses regenerate from their roots if you've killed them)? Also, these are all own-root roses that I'm talking about.

Would it be possible for you to post a photo and give the names of your roses? Different roses have different growth patterns and it's hard to give a valid answer in the abstract.

I'm over in FL and experienced a number of days with temps way below normal, below freezing nights for too long. My HTroses did have some leaf damaged due to the chills but the canes were without damage. Quite hearty to be truthful.

It seemed almost immediately after the cold lifted, some of the buds sprouted into stems and new leaves. My dilemma was whether to prune or not. Decided to do it. Pruned 1/2 height on the tall growth roses, gentle on the others. All the roses have produced new buds, lower on the pruned canes and more in quantity.

Here's the best example of what I'm talking about. This is White Floorshow. It has canes that are going all over the place. It's probably the worst as far as form goes. It's hard to see, but the main canes at the bottom kind of all come out of a circle at the base. I don't even know how I would start pruning a rose with this kind of form.

It says on HMF it can be a groundcover rose, but there wasn't much info to guide you sadly. It would help to have photos of the whole plant on HMF which calls it a shrub rose wider than tall. I know it doesn't want to be in that girdle.

Looks like it wants either to grow as a low mound (ground-cover or shrub) or to be fanned out on a frame (used as a climber) - I definitely would not have tied it into a congested ball! If you want it to grow instead as a low upright bush, in the manner of a Floribunda it looks like it's going to fight that desire the whole time you have it.

spreading plant with mounding growth

https://www.heirloomroses.com/roses/landscape-roses/white-floorshow.html

Yeah, I really didn't check on the growth habit before getting it, and needed an upright bush in that spot. It looks like a giant spreading spider if I don't tie it's canes in. I was thinking of trying to peg the rose since it has long, climbing rose canes, but I got scared that I was going to break the canes because they seem too rigid. I think I'll try that again. How on earth would I prune this rose to get a fresh start on training it, though? Could I safely take the thinner growth at the tops of the main canes out?

You could trim it all, but getting an upright bush instead would probably make you happier in the long run. The HMF site will help you. David Austin has some upright types like Queen of Sweden.

I can't bring myself to get rid of a rose bush, so I'll probably just try to give trimming and training it a try. I won't be surprised if I can't get it to grow the way I want it to, though. I'll just have to move it somewhere, most likely. Thanks.