For your two "babies", I'd only prune out the dead wood, cutting just behind the dead parts into the green cane. Some of those crossed or weakling branches might fade or need to be taken out as the plant matures, but I'd leave all the viable cane until it gets its growth well established. For Easy Does It, you don't have to prune out anything but the dead cane, but the plant is more likely to grow in a vase shape that blooms more if you gradually prune out branches that angle toward the middle of the plant. Don't take off more than 1/3 of the branches (unless they're dead of course) since you want enough established cane to support new growth and blooming if possible. You can also cut out a branch that crosses another one, picking either the oldest cane or the one angling toward the inside to cut on that established rose.

In my zone it's too early to be doing much pruning until the forsythia blooms and the tulips get good and started, but I imagine in zone 7 it's more likely to be pruning season.

Cynthia

Thanks, Nippstress. There are a couple dead sections of branches on the Easy Does It, which I knew have to go. The babies have a couple of crossed branches, but you're saying to leave them alone until the babies get bigger and more branches? And there are a couple of branches which are growing toward the center of EDI, which I guess have to be trimmed. It's incredible how many leaf buds are on the EDI. The babies have leaf buds, too, but not as densely. I guess that's because they're babies. I really look forward to their blooms. When should I fertilize them? Is my customary Osmocote OK for the roses?

Here is a pic from last year of Easy Does It and the babies.

Lovely healthy looking growth, Esther, with terrific blooms! Whatever you're doing is working, so you get to build on that. You don't "have" to prune anything on your EDI, but with as much growth as you show losing a few of the inward growing canes won't hurt it. It's mostly an aesthetic decision for what you prefer. In my zone 5, I don't do any pruning beyond the necessary ruthless chopping back of dead foliage (which would be 80%+ of the roses you mention in my zone), so there's rarely a need for shaping pruning.

The only reason you might prune back crossed branches in the babies is if they start to chafe at each other and cause friction damage that could let disease in. If you're lazy like me, you can put a little divider to keep the branches from rubbing, like strapping a little green styrofoam on with garden tape, then you get to keep all that lovely cane with no risk of problem. Once you've cut off dead and diseased parts, pruning is largely dependent on the style and priorities of the gardener. Heavy pruning can delay or limit bloom frequency and rebloom cycles, but it can encourage a more symmetric shape.

As for fertilizing, there are as many methods as there are people logging in here to GW. Osmocote is fine once a year for roses once they're past their first year (don't use granular fertilizer on newly planted roses), but you may have to watch for salt and potassium buildup if you use it every year. Mostly roses need nitrogen if they're heavy feeders, so the cheap high nitrogen fertilizers can be good if you don't put on so much they put out leaves at the expense of flowers. I'm a minimalist and given the roses an handful or two each of alfalfa hay, 10-10-10 cheap fertilizer, and Ironite once in the spring, and water soluble fertilizers like fish emulsion if I get around to it later in the season (and I rarely do). In the long run, it's better to make sure the roses have good soil than a lot of fertilizer, but some of each can be fine.

Cynthia