Roses add colour and beauty to gardens when the spring and summer months roll around.
Pruning is a major part of that process and has the potential to encourage the fullest growth and richest blooms from your roses.
There are many good reasons to prune, but the best amongst them is certainly the new lease of life it gives roses.
Pruning cannot only help to extend the general lifespan of a rose plant, but it can also equip it with the health and preparation to survive harsh winters, promising rich blooms in the coming year.
However, if pruning is carried out at the wrong time, it can leave roses with disastrous effects.
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Bryan Clayton, CEO of GreenPal with 22 years of gardening experience under his belt, has shared when and how to prune roses.
He explained that roses can be “as rewarding as they are challenging”, but get it right, and they’ll “turn any garden into a showcase”.
Sharing with Express.co.uk, pruning tips that “really work”, Bryan claimed that “timing is everything”.
He recommends that gardeners prune their roses early in the spring, “just as the buds start to swell”.
The expert explained: “This kick-starts their growing season and helps shape the plant for the upcoming blooms.
“Getting the timing right encourages healthy growth and a bounty of flowers.”
Moving onto how they should be pruned, Bryan urged gardeners to “always” prune by making clean cuts at a 45-degree angle, about a quarter inch above an outward-facing bud.
This angle helps shed water away from the bud, “reducing the risk of disease” and “encouraging the rose to grow outward”, not inward.
It’s all about directing the growth to create a well-shaped, open bush that gets plenty of air and light.
However, there is one way in which gardeners “go wrong”. While it might seem like cutting back hard will lead to more blooms, over-pruning can “stress the plant”, leading to “fewer flowers and a weakened rose bush”.
The “key” is balance. Gardeners need to remove dead wood and thin out the centre to improve air circulation, but avoid getting carried away.
Bryan concluded: “Roses might test your patience, but when you get those pruning shears in hand and apply some know-how, they pay you back in spades of stunning blooms.”
