Each spring we watch the garden. Only the most dedicated understands the wait for the amiable responsiveness of each rose to nature's warmth. With the warmth comes the swelling of buds, red and eager to produce yet another dazzling display of foliage and blooms.
This is a sweet occasion for the natural busybody gardener. We know that those skeletons in our gardens are beseeching us to once again come forth, to defy the ravages of weather and to meet the challenges of spring pruning.
No one should fear the craft of pruning. Rumors of how difficult and demanding it is, are Just that--rumors! With sharp shears in hand, taming and training brings the rose to a handsome shape, turning raw materials into a rejuvenated plant of elegant habit. Being amongst the most forgiving of plants, roses have the uncanny ability to endure cutting and sawing, making pruning less of a threat and more of an event of health for the plant. Successful gardeners have learned similar, basic pruning techniques, discovering as they go what tricks and shortcuts work best for them to realize their bounty of bloom.
Simply, pruning removes the Inferior or damaged canes, shapes the bush, and leaves a healthy foundation for the bloom cycle to come. If you place a pair of band pruners or a pair of lopping shears into the hands of three different rosarians, you're apt to meet the butcher, the barber, and the timid soul, all telling you with great exuberance why they have removed what they have removed from their plants. This is where common sense comes to play, and the experienced rosarian may have the upper hand. The butcher cuts back severely to three or four canes when doing renewal pruning following dormancy. This works well for the exhibitor with a strong bush, desiring prize blooms. The moderation of the barber leaves a few more canes (5 to 12), thus a larger bush for the garden. Floribundas and grandifloras generally fall into this category. Light pruning produces an abundance of short-stemmed flowers on large bushes. Recently, in the gardens of Trevor Griffiths, author of A Celebration of Old Roses, a pruning technique which might seem more bold than timid was observed. He took hedge trimmers to his shrubs and lightly sheared to perfect mounds, leaving as much viable wood as possible. The bushes were covered in the spring with short-stemmed roses due to using a light hand in pruning. Since each removal of wood endows the plant with its own unique characteristics, all at the whim of the pruning shears, careful thought needs to be exercised. When in doubt, opt for the moderate route, aiming for a handsome shape.
Nature prunes for us in Colorado, giving obvious indication where each cane needs to be cut, at about an inch or two above the ground many years. Having, a plant with about half-dozen viable eyes to a cane would be wonderful! Choosing a robust bud pointing upward and outward, a careful cut 1/4 inch above the bud and angled at 45 degrees would give such pleasure and the right spring boost for gardener and garden. (The angle to cut is down and away from the bud eye). We'd just be waiting for the sap to move up toward the tops of the canes to push those buds outward.
Pruning stimulates, promotes, maintains, directs, and energizes, thus provoking new growth from dormancy. It is renewal. Next time you're in your garden, make certain the pruning, shears are close at hand and don't be afraid to revitalize the garden.