| Roses need proper pruning, and although my wife | | | | you will get vigorous lively growth, and the plant |
| has traditionally done the rose bush pruning, I've | | | | will fill out and become more dense. This works |
| started taking over. It's fairly straightforward, | | | | very well with rose hedges as you want them |
| especially if you understand the 3 pruning cuts and | | | | dense and hedge shaped. |
| have good, well cared for, and sharp pruning tools. | | | | Pruning back dormant buds, during the winter |
| I find I use all three types on cuts on my rose | | | | season, focuses a plant's energy onto that bud as |
| bushes. | | | | well as perhaps one or two other nearby ones |
| Thinning is used to, well, thin. To make a plant | | | | when growing season resumes. This is a good |
| more open and less congested or thickly | | | | way to direct blooming energy into the canes you |
| branched. To prune you cut a branch at its base, | | | | want to bloom heavily. I find pruning dormant |
| either at the branch it comes off of or at the | | | | buds a bit trickier, and my wife does most of this. |
| base of the plant itself. This also helps prevent | | | | Pruning your roses is not difficult and it will make |
| disease by increasing air circulation around the | | | | your plants healthier and prettier, keeps your |
| plant. | | | | plants within the bounds you wish, and improve |
| Shearing is aggressively cutting off portions of the | | | | flowering and direct growth. It's also quite easy to |
| plant usually with hedge clippers. Below the cuts | | | | do, although I always fear overpruning! |