The single most common question we get in March: “Did I wait too long to prune my roses?” Almost always, the answer is no — and a confident spring cut is what sets up a season of strong canes and big blooms.
When to prune
The classic rule of thumb: prune when the forsythia blooms and the buds on your roses start to swell. For most temperate gardens that’s late winter to early spring, once the hardest frosts have passed.
The four-step cut
- Remove the dead and the diseased. Anything brown, brittle, or shriveled comes off first.
- Open the center. Take out crossing or inward-growing canes so air and light reach the middle.
- Cut to an outward-facing bud, at a 45° angle about 1 cm above the bud.
- Seal and tidy. Clear all clippings from the bed — they harbor disease over the season.
A note on tools
Sharp, clean secateurs make a clean cut that heals fast. Wipe the blades with alcohol between plants if any show signs of disease. That one habit prevents most of the problems we get called out to fix later in the year.
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