Do your annual late winter/early spring pruning for season 2026, pruning as hard as you believe you need to then. Looks like she's itching to take off and become spectacular now that she's enjoying her new freedom!

Moses.

I don’t do any seasonal pruning except when theres a difference between old/new growth, since we don’t have real winter. We’re going into the best growing season here (summer is when everything is miserable), so I’m thinking she can handle a pretty good thwacking, just in time for temps below 90 (but rarely below 40)!

Now's then the time. Go for it!

Moses.

True tea roses vary in their tolerance of pruning. Most don't respond to pruning the same way as hybrid teas do. Some will pout for ages, some will scarily die back, some will shrug it off as if nothing happened, and others (edit: only a few!) will do what I would call best case scenario and actually be stimulated into a lot of new growth. I grow DdB, but I've have never done more than dead head her, sometimes taking a small bit of cane, and remove dead wood. That's all that she's ever needed. She is now a 6x6' shrub, lush and full. She began as a leggy lass, slowly built up a scaffolding, and THEN filled out (EDIT: "filling out" probably took 10 years). Yours looks to be in the "building" stage.

You can NOT assume you can prune a true tea like you would a hybrid tea. They don't have the genes that prompt lush re-growth that came (mostly) from the hybrid perpetuals.

You need advice from someone who has actually moderately to heavily pruned DdB. But in general, the less you prune a tea, the happier it is. Now that yours will receive more light, I'm betting it will take off and fill out. Be patient. Teas are legacy plants that can live 100+ years.

I agree with fig_insanity. Actual old tea roses (which is what DdB is), HATE hard pruning in my experience - I have over 10 of them, some of which are over 50 years old. It sounds as if you live in a warm climate. I live in an area near the coast in Northern California, in zone 9/10. If your plant was mine, I would WAIT until the FALL/WINTER rains come, and see what it does now that it has more light. We took down a giant tree in our front yard once, and it took the roses 2 seasons to adapt to the extra light. At first they just froze, as if they were in shock, and just sat there. By the next year, they were putting out a lot of new growth, and since then have all been very happy.

What I would do is see if yours start putting out new growth during or just after the coming rainy season (here practically all the roses go dormant during the hot weather, and then wake up in the cooler and wetter Fall. If they put out new growth, I would just let them alone for several months, except for taking out DEAD wood, which is always OK. If they just sit there at first, do not worry - just let them alone (I would NOT feed them until they put out some new growth). After they get growing again, I would wait again for a full season to see what they looked like then, and then I might shape them a bit if they need it, but in NO case would I ever take off more than 1/3rd of them.

Sorry the above is so redundant, but I think I got excited to try and help you do what is best for your rose. I have a DdB which is a cutting I saved from an ancient one when it was finally dying. It is still going strong, but it did take it 3-4 years to fniish growing and filling out. Old roses need patience, and time, and then they will be gorgeous.

Jackie

You know, the only reason I even thought to ask was because I remember this coming up in this forum a few years ago. Might have been you, @jackie!

Based on just my experience I would have thwacked her down without a second thought. Which yes, I think she'd survive, but "she'd have to start all over again" is exactly the logic I needed.

HOWEVER, because she spent a lot of her life (my email says 2017!?? WOW) reeeeeeaching for sun, she is already a weird leggy shape I have (poorly) staked to even keep her upright. She's already wobbly and bendy, so starting from scratch might give her a better foundation and maybe a better next hundred years? Maybe that's better than waiting a few years to see if these spindly sticks fill in? Swaying in the wind and bending into the fence can't be especially good for her either, right?

Especially now that I know I was guessing her age wrong by like half. This is an 8-year-old plant, if that changes things. Good lord.

Thanks for the help as always!

I would leave her alone. She will fill out over time.

Tea roses are different and do not want pruning.

I'''m in Montana at the moment, but at home I have an older book that talks about rejuvenation pruning of teas. This is done over a period of YEARS. I'm coming back shortly so I'll try to remember to link to it. However, I'm not sure yours needs rejuvenation. Let it go for a while and see what transpires! Lucky you, mine was always in a pot, until the pool room door was left open and most everything froze out. This is such a gorgeous rose!

What Sheila said.

Jackie

I guess "does it come back after it is literally mown down" and "should I knock down an 8-year-old leggy plant that blooms constantly" are two different questions. Fair and thank you!

DdB is my only real Tea now that I think about it. I have noisettes and polyanthas and cramoisi superieur and SdlM, most of which have survived having a porch built on top of them, but all the giant Teas I don't have room for I just send to my mom and her huge sunny yard. "I'm too lazy to grow roses" Actually Mom good luck NOT growing roses. (Her roses are pristine prolific supermodels)

Duchess de Brabant does not get as large as some of the old tea roses do - here is a pic of one of mine when it was mature (at least 10 years old). It is about 7 ft tall and 4-5 feet wide. I have another one which also did not get huge. So, after yours fills out, you should have room for it.

Jackie

You could wait a month to see if it sprouts new growth from the tips or along some of the canes. A dose of your regular fertilizer might speed up or cause more new sprouts to appear. New Orleans is a much different climate than mine, so if this isn't the time to fertilize roses, then wait til the right time of year.

Tea roses should be allowed to grow naturally. Look at Jackie's. They don't work on deadlines.

I‘m not in a hurry, just thinking about her long-term situation. The last 4 of her 8 years of life were in poor sunlight and she is misshapen as a result. Hopefully the sun will let her throw a couple of basal canes to stabilize her (she is leggy enough to sway a lot in the wind) and eventually get a lil bushier.

She will now be able to fill out. She needs years to recover from the difficult situation. Cutting more would weaken her.

Lyanna, you know, regardless of how tea roses are supposed to be pruned correctly, you do not have an ideal situation there, in light of past events. Because of apical dominance, the upper most growth buds will predominate, emerging from already thin growth to produce even thinner growth, and i predict all of which will produce small, weak stemmed blooms resulting in a big, hot mess.

I still recommend severe pruning with good follow-up care (fertilizing, insect/disease control, watering, etc...), and I believe you will have the desired success.

Pruning back to just below where the thickest main canes begin to branch seems to make sense to me. Follow your gut instincts.

Moses.

Home now. Ill find thG book. No need to behasty.

No Moses, that is not how one handles Tea roses. That would work for HTs.

Jackie, Your Duchess de Brabant is just gorgeous, divine, & amazing! ♡

Thank you, sultry - mine is a one generation clone (which I rooted myself - 100% certain it is on its own roots) of an ancient one which was growing in our garden when we moved in in 1989. That one was planted in a row of old tea roses planted by my DH's grandfather. I did not know it was there, as it was overwhelmed by huge bushes of Le Vesuve and Cecile Bruner (NOT the climbing version - one of the other two). Both of these roses of course are pink. One day I noticed ONE bloom of a different shade of pink, with a different bloom form, sticking out from the middle of Le Vesuve (whose name I did not know yet). On investigating, I found the bush, which had dwindled to almost nothing, so I rooted it (just in case), and moved the original one, which did not survive (my rose transplanting skills in those days were zero). However, the rooted cutting did survive, and that is its pic above as a mature plant.

Here is a story I love about DdB: One of its many many names is 'Comtesse de Labarthe'. In the Australian tea rose book they tell a story about a rose which all over Australia was called "Countess Bertha", and an old rose expert who was visiting (I think from Europe) saw it and said it could not possibly be the same rose, as no one as no one could have called it "Countess Bertha", although it did look like the rose they knew as Comtesse de Labarthe. The local rose folks said something like: "Oh yes, Australians could do that".

Jackie

Jackie, your property and rose garden are so special, especially due to its history and generations of rose lovers. I am glad you were able to rescue Duchess de Brabant.

I love the story of DdB! I guess a Duchess ranks higher than a Countess? (Comtesse) lol. Either way, she is the loveliest rose! I am appreciating rose history and history in general, much more now than when I was younger.

I might have to try Le Vesuve at some point when I get more flower beds dug. I am smitten with the old roses♡

DO NOT CUT HER!!! Duchesse de Brabant is a Tea through and through. You will be setting this rose back years if you do. If you must, limit pruning to the removal of dead wood and general shaping like you would for a shrub. Hard pruning should be reserved for Hybrid Teas. I am basing this advice on growing DdB in Tidewater Virginia, USDA Zone 8b.