Roses are one of the most popular garden flowers as they’re a timeless bloom and are available in hundreds of shapes, sizes, and colours.
But they also have a reputation for being finicky, hard to grow, and difficult to perfect for beginner and expert gardeners alike.
However, with the right care and maintenance, any at-home gardener can get a rose bush to thrive.
One of the most essential care tips to get your roses to flourish is pruning. Pruning roses is essential for their overall health, vitality and appearance.
However, it’s vital that gardeners prune their roses at the right time depending on the variety, or the could result in a heart of no blooms.
Lindsey Chastain, gardener and the founder of The Waddle and Cluck, a blog about all things home and homesteading, claims that “September is the perfect time to prune climbing roses”.
To do so, remove any dead or weak canes and cut back long climbing shoots to six feet.
Lindsey noted: “This helps stimulate the development of basal shoots, which will produce the best flowers next year.”
Be sure to leave any healthy stems with wide bases intact and disinfect pruning shears between cuts to prevent disease transmission.
Lindsey also shared a few other plants that can benefit from pruning this month, including perennials. She said: “One important pruning task is cutting back perennials that have finished flowering for the season.
“Using pruning shears, cut back plants like catmint, bee balm and coral bells to about one-third their height. This tidies them up for winter and prevents self-seeding. Just be careful not to prune any perennials that will still flower into autumn.”
Another September pruning chore is trimming bushes and shrubs like spirea, potentilla and other spring bloomers.
Take out about one-quarter to one-third of the oldest branches all the way to the ground to “encourage new growth”.
Make cuts just above strong, healthy buds or side shoots. Properly thinning overgrown shrubs allows for better air circulation and sunlight exposure.
