In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains how to prune and train rose bushes.
Pruning and training roses
- Inspect rose bush to find old, dead or weak branches.
- Use pruning saw to cut through selected branches at the base of plant.
- Deadhead plant with bypass pruners, removing all faded flowers.
- Dig 3-feet-deep holes for fence posts on either side of rose bush; set posts in holes.
- Join the three horizontal rails to the posts using a small sledge to tap together the parts.
- Backfill around fence posts with soil.
- Use jute twine to tie the rose canes (branches) to the fence rails.
- Remove weeds from around the rose bush using a cultivator.
- Add fertilizer to soil around plant, then rake it in with the cultivator.
- Spread a 2-inch layer of cypress bark mulch around base of plant.
- Add 1 to 2 inches of water per week to the rose bush.
Tools
Tools & Materials
- Work gloves
- Bypass pruning shears
- Transplanting spade
- Post hole digger
- Sledge hammer – 3-pound
- Three-prong cultivator