How to Prune Climbing Roses

The pruning of climbing roses is a seasonal task that must be performed once or twice a year. Although it might be seen as just another meaningless and complicated chore, it actually serves a great purpose. Cutting back your climbing roses will aid them in growing robustly, while also enforcing magnificent flowering each passing year.

On the other side of the spectrum, if left unattended, climbing roses tend to spiral out of control. They turn into a tangled mess of branches and also sport way fewer beautiful flowers. Although pruning climbing roses can seem like a complicated task, it really isn’t, as long as you follow the right steps. And in this guide, we will help you do just that. 

So if you:

• Are a novice gardener.
• Have a climbing rose, but have no idea how to prune it.
• Don’t know how to train climbing roses.

Then keep on reading!

Difference between climbing and rambling roses

Before you start pruning anything, it’s good to check if the roses you have are climbing or rambling ones. The reason why this is so important is that the method we will go over below is only suitable for climbing roses. 

An easy way to differentiate between the two types of roses is by observing their flowering time and the size of their blossoms. 

Climbing roses flower repeatedly throughout the whole summer and beginning of autumn. They produce flashy, large roses but in smaller quantities. 

Rambling roses, on the other hand, flower only once, usually around June, and produce an abundance of small, charming roses.

When to prune climbing roses

Climbing roses are best cut back in winter, once their flowers have faded and the rose plants enter the dormant season. This usually happens sometime between October and February. This time is also perfect for renovating old overgrown climbing roses. During this time the rose is not in leaf, making it a lot easier to examine the branches and work on it.

During autumn, longer and more delicate looking sprouts can be pruned a bit and the stems tied back to a preferred fixture – a wall, a fence or an arch. This is done to protect the roses from the strong, late autumn winds, that can easily break your climbing rose. 

Pruning climbing roses

Climbing roses are a bit different from other types of roses when it comes to pruning, as only certain canes require pruning. One of the most common mistakes that we have noticed is that inexperienced gardeners tend to cut the wrong parts of the rose or trim the canes too short. As a result, their climbing roses don’t bloom the next season. 

If you look at the climbing rose, you will see the main cane – the one that grows from the base of the plant, and laterals – smaller shoots that grow away from the main cane. So, here you need to remember one rule – never cut the main stem more than one-third of the length! 

When it comes to pruning lateral branches, those can be pruned along the whole season. The cuts should be made 30 to 40 cm away from the main stem, right above a bud eye.

Initial training and pruning of adolescent climbing roses

Climbing roses range in size and can be anywhere between 1m and 6m tall. Also, all of them, without exception, need to be trained to climb as they are not self-clinging plants. 

Training your roses consists of tying their canes to the support you plan to grow them on and shaping them when needed. To get the best results, follow these tips on how to train your climbing roses:

Regular maintenance of climbing roses

Routinely pruning and maintaining your climbing roses is a must if you want your beautiful climber to illuminate your backyard. 

Regular maintenance of climbing roses consists of: 

1. Removing the “Three D’s” of any trees, shrubs and climbers – dead, damaged and diseased stems;
2. Then inspect the climber for new shoots and tie them in if you find any;
3. Follow this up by pruning side shoots by two-thirds of their original length;
4. Finally, if your climbing rose is heavily congested, prune really old branches from the roots to promote new and stable growth.

How to deadhead climbing roses

Deadheading is the process of removing old blossoms from the climbing rose. After a rose blooms out, it starts developing seeds in the rose hips and wastes a lot of energy on it. By snapping the flower heads off, your climber will spend energy on the production of new flowers instead.

Deadheading is quite simple and requires just a bit of observation. Begin by inspecting the rose canes once per week during the blooming season. Once you see that flowers have started withering and their petals falling, it means that it is time to remove the flower heads.  This is how you do it:

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Image source: Shutterstock / ajisai13