Time to Prune the Roses

When January rolls around, most people think about getting a clean start. Losing weight. Launching neglected projects. Dusting off the manuscript. Starting anew.

I think about roses.

January is the month when all good gardeners sharpen their shears and get to pruning. It’s when we cut away the wrinkled, deformed leaves and browning stems. This is the time to dispose of any stray bugs and oddly expressive branches. Time to dig around the root base and loosen the packed soil.

It’s all about a fresh start with a faithful friend and a hope that this time we’ll do it a little better so that, when the blossoms burst forth in another six weeks or so, they’ll do so a little more abundantly.

Rose pruning is not a painless proposition. Before I discovered elbow-length rose pruning gloves, it meant arms covered with scratches. Now it just means upper arms covered with scratches. And it takes me several days to prune the 87 rosebushes in my garden. Imagine how many scratches that will bring.

The process is an intimate one. It requires taking time to study and reacquaint myself with each plant, remember its strengths and its weaknesses from the year before. Sometimes it means giving up on an oldtimer that just doesn’t have another year in it. But it can also mean bringing home a new, fresh bare-root youngster and waiting to see what notes it will add to my outdoor symphony.

It’s about climbing inside each structure and rediscovering its bones. So the scratches aren’t much to complain about—any relationship will cause a few.

There is a method to good pruning. The first step for those of us who are not seasoned pros is to get a good rose pruning guide. Though it’s not a complicated process, there is more to it than can be covered here.

Remember, the primary purpose of pruning is to help the bush produce new growth and to allow air and light to filter to the center of the plant. Methods vary according to the type of rosebush––that is, whether it’s a hybrid tea, a climber or a floribunda. But there are several common steps to basic pruning.

The Huntington Library in Pasadena, which has stunning roses, offers these tips:

•Prune no more than onethird to one-half of growth.

•Remove all dead and diseased growth

•Prune to outward-facing bud eyes

•Remove any canes that cross through the center or rub against other canes

•Remove one old cane for each new cane produced

•Remove all remaining foliage

•Clean up any remaining debris from the garden

•Seal open cuts if needed

•Apply a dormant spray as directed

It won’t be time to feed the roses until a few weeks down the road, once new growth has begun.

Pruning completed, all that’s left is to tend to your wounds and wait for spring—a suggestion that stirs a gardener’s heart.

My New Year’s resolution is to spend more lovely time in the garden this year.

It’s good for the garden and it’s good for my soul.