Pruning & Training Your Climbing Rose

Are you afraid of pruning your beautiful climbing rose?

Pruning climbing roses can seem daunting, but it’s essential for healthy growth and abundant blooms. Here’s a simple breakdown of how to do it effectively.

• Late Winter/Early Spring is the ideal time to prune, just as new growth begins. This allows you to easily see which canes are alive and which are dead.

• If you have a new climbing rose, it will require light pruning in the first few years to establish a strong framework.

• But established roses with a strong set of core canes require more thorough pruning to maintain their shape and encourage flowering.

• Gather your tools: sharp pruning shears, loppers (for thicker canes), and gardening gloves. Clean your tools with Lysol to prevent the spread of disease.

• Remove the “Four Ds”: Dead canes, Dying canes, Damaged canes, & Diseased canes before you start working on the healthy parts of the bush to promote growth.

Train the Main Canes: :

• Climbing roses produce flowers on side shoots (laterals) that grow from the main canes.
• With climbing roses, “training” the canes is just as important as pruning. This involves guiding the canes along a stout support structure.
• Encourage horizontal growth of the main canes. This promotes more side shoots and therefore more flowers.  
• Secure the main canes to your support structure (trellis, fence, etc.).  

Prune the Lateral Shoots:

• Cut back the lateral shoots that flowered the previous year.
• Typically, cutting them back by about two-thirds is recommended.
• When pruning lateral shoots, cut just above an outward-facing bud.  

Thin Out Congested Areas:

• Remove any crossing or rubbing canes to improve air circulation and prevent disease.  
• Thin out weak or spindly growth.

Clean Up:

• Remove all pruned material from around the base of the rose to prevent disease.

Sound too simple?

Here’s a thorough video of the process from our friends at Heirloom Roses that shows you the step by step process – and how much prune is enough, and what is too much. It’s a great resource . . .