How to prune bush roses (and why the type matters more than the cut)

01At a glance

• When: late winter to early spring — usually mid-February in the south, March in the north and colder gardens.
• Time: 10–20 minutes a plant.
• Tools: sharp bypass secateurs, a pruning saw or loppers for old stems, thick gloves.
• You'll know it worked when: strong new shoots break from the buds you cut to, pointing outwards, with an open centre.

02First: which rose have you got?

• Hybrid tea — one big, shapely flower per stem. Prune hardest.
• Floribunda — flowers in clusters. Prune moderately.
• Repeat-flowering shrub rose — a bigger, looser bush that flowers more than once. Prune lightly.
• Once-flowering shrub rose — one generous flush in early summer, then done. Don't prune these in winter — they flower on older wood. They get a light prune in late summer, straight after flowering, removing just one or two older stems.

Lost the label? Watch it for a season. Single blooms per stem or clusters, and whether it flowers again after June, tell you everything.

03Step by step

1. 1
   Take out the dead, damaged and diseased. Cut back into healthy wood — you're looking for clean, white pith in the centre of the cut stem. Brown pith means keep going.
2. 2
   Remove spindly and crossing stems. Anything thinner than a pencil, and any stem rubbing against another, goes. Saw off old stubs that haven't produced new shoots.
3. 3
   Find an outward-facing bud. Buds sit just above where a leaf once joined the stem. Choose one pointing away from the centre of the bush, so the new shoot grows outwards and keeps the middle open.
4. 4
   Make the cut. No more than 5mm above the bud, sloping down and away from it so rain runs off rather than sitting on the bud.
5. 5
   Cut to the right height for the type (heights below).
6. 6
   Feed and mulch. Once you've finished, give a rose or general fertiliser in spring and mulch around (not against) the stems.

How hard, by type:

• Hybrid tea: strongest stems back to 4–6 buds, about 10–15cm from the base; weaker stems harder, to 2–4 buds (about 5–10cm). Over time you're aiming to clear out any wood three years old or more.
• Floribunda: strongest stems to about 25–30cm from soil level; weaker ones harder. Every so often, cut one old stem right down to renew the plant.
• Repeat-flowering shrub roses: reduce strong growth by up to a third and shorten side-shoots to 2–3 buds.

04In summer: deadhead

On repeat-flowering roses, deadheading brings the next flush on faster. For hybrid teas, the RHS suggests simply snapping the faded flower off just below the head; for other roses, snip back to just above the next leaf. Leave the flowers on any rose you're growing for hips.

05Mistakes that cost you flowers

• Blunt secateurs. A crushed, ragged cut is an open door for disease. Clean cuts only.
• Winter-pruning a once-flowering rose. You'll cut off next summer's display.
• Cutting to an inward-facing bud by habit. Fine occasionally to pull a sprawling rose upright; as a default it crowds the centre.