Your roses will benefit from summer pruning right up to the middle of August. This is somewhat dependent on the weather conditions – when these become less favourable – that is to say, colder nights – the shoots that develop will not be strong enough to bear flowers. Until that time, they can.
4 simple steps to pruning roses:
- On your rose bush, look for the shoots with flowers that have finished – these will be the shoots that grew after the spring pruning. Check to see that these are strong and healthy.
- On the flower stalk of the shoots you will find a five-leaf configuration – on stronger varieties this will be around two thirds of the way up, and on weaker species about halfway. A shoot growing out of here will be rather stronger than one growing from a three-leaf configuration. You do want beautiful flowers, after all!
- Now cut back the shoots with finished flowers one to two centimetres above the chosen five-leaf.
- In the next few weeks a new shoot will develop in the axil of the leaf. In ideal growing conditions, which involve the right combination of warmth, sunshine, moisture and daylight hours, the rose bush should produce another crop of beautiful roses.
Let your roses bloom again this summer! You can summer prune your shrub roses, climbing roses and stock roses – enjoy beautifully pruned shrubs and an abundance of colourful flowers. Roses deserve to have a second chance!
