Hi ! I hard prune all my roses , unless they are babies . So often that dosnt leave me much leaves left to pick off . They will push our new leaves if I miss some but I love the look of the fresh new ones so I try to get them all off bc waiting for them to fall off can take forever! I prune them all down to 12 inches or maybe a little higher and try to clean them up then .

Ditto Lilyfinch, I live in SoCal & do exactly what she does. Yes if you prune first then there's hardly any leaves left so it's not such a tedious task. I want to start with a clean slate & not worry if there are any bugs or viruses on the old leaves.

Not all roses need or should be "hard pruned", as I am sure you both know. Unfortunately, if you go to most "rose pruning lessons" at a garden center or whatnot, they will tell you to do that. to all roses. Hard pruning is for hybrid teas, and perhaps some other classes of modern roses, and does seem to work well with them.

Many old or antique roses which like to grow in mild winter climates do not need that, and some will resent it. I grow a lot of old tea roses, and china roses, and all I do to them is shape them gently if they get too big and/or block the paths. I do not do anything about removing last year's leaves unless they look diseased or awful.

Jackie

Oh yes jackie , I didn’t think about that . I only grow a handful of old roses , and I leave them be . The ones ingrid gifted me are still small so no pruning , and my biggest older one is gloire de Dijon and it gets left alone . I just planted it this fall in my back bed and I hope it thrives there .

Otherwise I grow mostly moderns / Austin’s . Not many hybrid teas ( maybe 2! Lol ) but pruning hard gives my roses space to grow ( otherwise they are giant ) and hits the reset button for them . I experimented with not pruning one year and the spring show just wasn’t as good for me . Just my own observation. I cram a lot into my garden lol

Thank you all for your comments. I too prune down my hybrid teas, and a few Austins that just are too big. I was at a stop sign and watched a gardener removing leaves from rose canes which sparked my question. I have a few very thorny climbers I will need to address soon here and need to move an antique rose Mrs R B Cant to a better location to be big and left alone.

I hard prune the hybrid teas and modern floribundas. Less pruning on the DAs, but still pruned. Only prune out the canes I don't want on the climber, then cut back all the laterals (following the video by Heirloom's Ben Hanna on Eden). But I do pick off all the leaves -- even on the littler ones. I love seeing all the bronzy new growth, and I don't want to overwinter diseases/pests on the old leaves. Basically -- what Lilyfinch said! I also didn't prune one year -- I regretted it. Mine don't get huge -- I think my miserly watering and the high winds keep them from getting too big. But even so -- I prune, adopting my friend's motto: "hack hack and don't look back." This year I hacked most things super hard because last year's super wet spring and then gloomy summer wreaked havoc on normally healthy roses and fruit trees. So, we'll see!

I try to not take off more than 1/3...2/3 for the ones that get gigantic.

My tree roses I have to prune way down though, because many of them will grow three to four feet from the graft.

The only rose I've had that doesn't do well with pruning is Blue Girl. I pruned 2/3 one year and it sulked for 2 years, barely grew.

Carla in Sac

I prune just by a third on the very young roses, then more and more the older and stronger they get. Except for climbers of course. Yes I also followed the Heirloom Roses video on that. I don't have any of the old roses (yet) but maybe one day.

Deborah or Soozie Q - is the Heirloom video on Youtube or their website? I was considering cutting my Edens all the way back and starting over with fresh new bendable canes. I have a lot of stiff old wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNfSaH5fLUM

92 down, 3 to go. I am so over pruning lol. I passed by Bliss this morning and it still looks to tall so I will give him another go. I always defoliate and start fresh

Kristine -- way to go! I hear you re pruning. I have too many roses now. I still have a tiny Mel's Heritage on my slope that I've not touched. I'm rationalizing that maybe he doesn't need anything. But usually at least I'd take the leaves off! I think the leaves are so small and so many that it just seems too tedious.

Haku -- I couldn't fnd the video I posted above on their website or doing a google search, so had to go to an old email I sent a friend. I don't know why they're burying that video! I love it. Maybe leave a couple of older canes, but throw on a lot of alfalfa to encourage new canes this year? A friend went to a rose class where they talked about "scrubbing" or nicking the base of the rose (the crown?) to encourage more canes. But I don't know what they meant...anyone else know?

Pruning Olivia, geeze, she must have had 20 or more canes dead center what a pain to clear that out. Not sure why some roses do that but I have a couple that really fill the center.

#DeDe. @Deborah, there was a post on that a few years back. I'll see if I can find it. Regarding defoliating, I spray with horticultural oil and they fall off. It helps with bugs too and is cheap and eadyeasyeadyeasyeadyeasyeadyeasy after pruning or before.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3414693/girdling-rose-canes-to-stimulate-basal-growthing-rose-canes-to-stimulate-basal-growth there was another, but I couldn't find it.

Thank you Deborah for finding that video, it was super helpful. Im clearly not pruning enough out.

@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley - I sprayed with hort oil too but my leaves remained on... maybe I need to do a few applications.

I think if followed with sulfur it quickens it. Not sure if you can mix the 2 together. I know you can do a lime oil mix but I can never find the lime. We also trying to do it BeforeDays With bright sun