Getting your roses into form

Pruning produces better flowers

Severely cut back all roses that bloom more often in the year so that they come out in their full splendour later at the right time. To do this, first of all remove the dead stems just above the ground, then the oldest and weakest ones, and leave 3 to 5 vigorous buds. Now prune them back to a length of around 25 cm and then give them a generous helping of long-term fertilizer. You will really get some splendid blooms in the summer! When the buds get bigger, than is the time to reach for the garden shears. Even if some people are of the opinion that early pruning harms a later abundance of flowers, it is exactly the opposite: Only determined pruning, and not tentative in anyway, will rejuvenate the roses and force the production of new stems that will flower all the better later. So then, off to the roses!

Pruning Roses Properly

Cut the rose stems at a slant about 1 cm above the so-called "eye", a bud on the stem. Ensure that the “eyes” outwards so that the shoots have room to grow. It is also important that there are still two buds after the pruning back.

Ordinary roses, hybrid tea roses and dwarf roses
These types need to be pruned back the most severely. The more severely this is done, the better they flower. Support them to around a third of their height, ordinary roses and hybrid tea roses up to 20 to 30 cm, dwarf roses to 10 to 15 cm.

Repeatedly flowering shrub roses
Prune them back by only a third so that a strong basis remains. The main stems need to be pruned back a little, the side stems more severely. Of course you should remove completely any crossing stems and any that are dead or old.

Shrub roses
These plants are extremely easy to care for. All they need is to be pruned back every three years and just as severely as ordinary roses.

Shrub and climbing roses that bloom only once
Here you only need to remove the damaged and dead stems. Leave all the other stems, otherwise there will be fewer flowers next summer. Only prune in the early summer.

Repeatedly flowering climbing roses
Just prune the side stems a little so that they will bloom well in the summer. Simply leave the long stems, it is best to tie up vigorous young base stems horizontally to induce them to bloom the most.

Fertilizing Helps

After the pruning, work a composite fertilizer into the soil. It can be a mineral or an organic one - but it should not contain any chlorides, since there is generally a risk of providing too much chloride, and that can damage the plant, depending on its tolerance to chlorides.

Getting your Roses Into Form

Pruning Roses Properly

Fertilizing Helps