Take your time pruning roses – with a little thought and care, you’ll get the very best out of them and hopefully pave the way for some superb blooms in a few months’ time. As with all pruning, the main reason is not necessarily to curb growth, though this is a factor. It’s to reinvigorate, refresh and encourage the plant to produce new, and hopefully, healthy growth.
If the weather where you are is currently frozen, snowy and exceptionally cold, then leave it a few weeks, but otherwise, get cracking now before your rose awakens and decides to start growing. Make sure you have sharp secateurs, so the cuts you make are neat, half a centimetre above a bud, and slope them to stave off any infection or rot from the wet weather.
Whether it’s potted or open ground roses, all types need a bit of attention now. Miniatures are the same, but obviously just need less drastic and shorter chops than their larger cousins! Climbing and shrub roses don’t need as vigorous a chop as bush roses, just a thin out and tip prune, shortening side shoots, cutting out damaged stems and nipping back overlong ones. Come spring, give all your roses a good feed and mulch to ease them along.