Landscape (or shrub) roses are touted for their ease of care, and for the most part, they are simple to grow and maintain. They are disease resistant and therefore require little or no spraying and don’t need the fussy deadheading that tea roses need to look their best. Because they are so undemanding, it is understandable when they are left to their own devices and they become a tangled, unruly mess.
If this has happened to you, don’t despair! With a little effort, you can bring those roses back to the high-performing plants that you love.
First, prepare for battle. Arm yourself with freshly sharpened hand pruners and a pair of long handled loppers. Don protective gear—leather gloves (insulated is best for thorn protection). A long sleeve jacket made of tough fabric like canvas is essential to avoid having your arms shredded. Safety glasses are also a good idea.
Begin by cutting back the top growth by about one third. This will get much of the brushy mess out of the way so you can see where the important cuts should be made. Don’t worry about where the buds are at this point, as there will be other cuts later for more detail. Next, look for dead and old canes and remove them as low as possible. Now you should be able to see which canes look healthy and are well placed -- prune out everything else. With shrub roses it's not necessary to remove all but three or four canes as with tea roses. As long as they are well spaced, feel free to leave several.
Now is when things get picky. How short to cut the remaining canes depends on how tall you want your shrub rose to be when in bloom. Make the final cut about 18 inches below that. For example, if you want the rose to be four feet tall, make the final cut at 2 ½ feet. Make the cuts about ¼ inch above an outward facing bud. If buds aren’t apparent, look for “blind” buds—horizontal lines on the canes, sometimes with a dot above them. If you can’t find either, make your best guess and re-cut when the buds emerge. The idea is to have the new growth going upward and outward. The final detail is the angle of the cut, which should at about 45 degrees to the cane. Too flat and water can pool on the cut end, causing rot, and too steep can cut into the bud tissue, killing the bud.
Don’t worry if you don’t manage to follow these guidelines perfectly—shrub roses are very forgiving, kind of like a haircut. The difference between a good one and a bad one is about three weeks!
While we're on the topic of roses and pruning, here is a video demonstration by Elaine on pruning tea roses...
