Skill in pruning rose plants is acquired by personal experience and observation. Every rose-grower will derive more satisfaction and enjoyment from his garden if he prunes his own plants.

The Necessity For Pruning

The advisability of pruning is obvious from the manner in which a rose grows. Unlike a tree, which goes on from year to year adding to its size, the rose grows by a process of replacement. Strong shoots flower well in their first, second, and possibly third years, but then become weaker at their uppermost parts. A strong shoot is sent out from a point lower down on each old shoot or from the base of the plant; this soon becomes the main channel for the flow of sap. The older branch starves. The new branch will be similarly dealt with by Nature in two or three years. Starved branches soon die. By pruning we try to anticipate this process by removing old wood and encouraging sap to flow into younger and stronger branches. Therein lies the answer to questions we are asked frequently  "Why do we need to prune?" or "What happens if we do not prune at all?" The plants would eventually become large masses of tangled branches, the innermost of which would mostly be dead or sickly, and the outermost would be young but spindly.

Heavy Or Light Pruning

Faulty pruning can set back even a thriving, well-established plant. Some of the very hardy varieties can withstand a great deal of harsh treatment. Hard or low pruning is rarely seen in Australia today. This is the result of people's experience with light pruning, encouraged for many years by the National Rose Societies in the various States. Many public demonstrations have been give a Light pruning has been practised in temperate climates in many parts of the world for many years and is gaining favour. It, like high planting, is practicable only in warm climates. In cold climates the youngish growth that we retain would be killed by cold; consequently there is need for relatively hard pruning there. It is probably better under adverse conditions of cold climates to leave the pruning until after the worst of the winter is over and then to cut the branches below their damaged parts. This is preferable to pruning all roses to a height of just a few inches or right back to old wood. In Australia it is from young wood, especially watershoots, that we get our best blooms. Light pruning gives bigger plants with more protection from sun by foliage and more blooms with apparently no deterioration in quality. Again, of course, Perne-tianas with their poor constitutions will be killed by even moderately hard pruning. It is only in the very coldest parts of Australia and New Zealand that light (or high) pruning exposes a plant to damage from cold.

Each year the plants should become a little bigger. Strong basal shoots will be sent out from the union; they should reach a height of several feet in most varieties.

It used to be said that hard pruning of roses promoted stronger growth and produced better blooms. The evidence is all against this theory. The roots of a plant work to supply demands made by the top of the plant. The less the top, the less nourishment is demanded, and the greater the top, the greater the demand. Hard pruning tends to make the roots sluggish. Then the plant becomes less vigorous and less resistant to diseases. The life of the plant is considerably shortened. Lightly pruned plants not only produce equally good blooms, but give a greater number of them, and longer stems as well. Bushes five to six feet high are often seen crowned with large blooms of perfect form. With hardpruned plants one is hesitant about cutting any blooms with long stems. There are very few such growths, and the cutting must cause a big shock to the plant. With large, lightly pruned plants no such harm is done.

Any pruning almost certainly reduces the number of flowers produced, but with light pruning this reduction is not very great, and we are more than compensated by the improvement in quality, and the smaller proportion of blooms damaged by contact with other branches. This improvement is by no means inversely proportional to the pruning. The branches contain large quantities of stored plant foods, especially carbohydrates, and so pruning actually robs a plant of part of its reserves.

Bear in mind the variety being pruned each time. Some respond best to very light pruning, some to moderately light pruning, and some to slightly harder pruning. Into the first of these three groups fall the Pernetianas, part Pernetianas, and the Tea roses queer grouping, but the reasons for their inclusion in the one group are totally different. The Pernetianas are soft-wooded and will very often die if cut hard. The Teas have thin, hard, wiry growth; they are the healthiest and most tolerant of abuse of all roses. Their blooms are usually smaller than those of other types, and they do best if allowed to develop into big dense bushes. Into the second group fall most modern roses, while in the last category are the few remaining Hybrid Perpetuals, with the exception of Frau Karl Druschki, which strangely resembles the Pernetianas in its resentment of "a real good pruning".

In temperate climates, pruning is an all-the-year-round process. The more continuous the blooming of a plant, the more continuous is the pruning. This continuity will vary with the climate as well as the rose variety. An ever-blooming shrub type, such as Lorraine Lee or Papa Gontier, needs only its faded flowers and seed-pods removed with a few inches of stem to ensure good flowers throughout the year. Once seed-pods are allowed to form, the whole plant tends to slower growth and decreased bloom production.

When To Prune

It is hard to find a good time for conventional pruning in semi-tropical climates, for there is no cessation of growth and blooming. The necessity for cutting blooms correctly is greater in these regions, for that is often the only pruning necessary, except the removal, as soon as detected, of dead and sickly wood and, from time to time, of old branches. This continuous growing and blooming ages wood more quickly, but helps in the production of new branches to replace old ones.

In cooler climates roses should be pruned just after their greatest stage of dormancy, as the new growth-buds swell preparatory to bursting. The first of these to show enlargement will be on the uppermost ends of branches. They may be in leaf before the bigger and better buds, lower on the same stem, have swollen. This will usually happen in July. The sap is then rising, and pruning time has arrived. Do not begin pruning in cool climates before ist July, and finish by 20th July in an average garden.

In large gardens, where there is a great amount to be done in a limited time, climbers could be pruned as early as 20th June and the bushes not be finished until 1 oth August. Early pruning induces early growth, which is then exposed to damage by frost. Late pruning may cause "bleeding" of sap from large cuts.

Many people attempt to get early roses by early pruning, but extremely little, if any, difference in blooming times can be gained, except in warm climates where growth is almost constant. For early flowers one must plant early-blooming varieties.

Many others attempt to pospone the blooming of some sorts. This is most often tried by exhibitors with varieties that normally bloom earlier than the majority of roses, for which spring show dates are arranged. To delay the blooming time by one week it is necessary to prune at least one month later than usual. By this time fairly big leaves will have grown on the distal parts of the plants. They must be removed by cutting back to a more proximal bud that has not yet shot. Much plant food will have been used in producing the shoots that are sacrificed, and the blooms that follow will be a little smaller than they would have been if they had been allowed to come at their normal time. The exhibitor argues that it is better to have slightly smaller blooms on show day than for the variety to have finished flowering.

Pruning Bushes And Standards

Never set out to prune rose plants to a preconceived shape. First completely remove all spindly growth, all dead wood, all old worn-out wood, all watershoots that have grown since 31st March in established plants, and all branches that are growing across the centre of the plant. Laterals sent out, after pruning, from these branches will so congest the plant that they will damage one another by rubbing. They are not removed to make the plant look neater, but to give better results. After these removals there will remain only vigorous mature branches.

If there are too many, select the best by way of position, spacing, and vigour. Remove, at their bases, those in excess of requirements; the number does not matter so much as the spacing. Some will be watershoots strong, straight shoots coming from the union of bud and stock, so far devoid of laterals, and headed by a group of blooms.

To prune a watershoot, simply remove the central part of its head and clip the remaining two or three stems just distal to a pair of leaves or leaflets that are to be found on each of them. Often the lateral stems bear more than one pair of leaflets. The growth-buds in the angles between the lower leaves and the stems will be stronger, and pruning should be done at these levels. By cutting into the main branch you would be calling on very immature growth-buds to throw out lateral growths, and the buds would probably fail and the whole branch would die. If the upper parts only of the watershoot are shortened, these immature buds on the main branch will, in the course of the following few months, throw out strong lateral branches. At the same time the upper part may weaken and need to be shortened to the highest well-placed strong lateral. Complete removal should be done only when the shoot is very badly placed, is very crooked, or is very immature, for watershoots are precious in plant-building. Lightly pruned, they will build up a big, new, vigorous section of the bush. If still in any doubt as to how to prune a watershoot, simply break off the seed-pods, which is better than cutting into the shoot itself. Nature will work out quite a good solution. This same procedure applies to watershoots throughout the whole year.

Most of the branches of any established rose plant will not be watershoots of the current season's growth. The best of them have already been selected. From them it will be necessary to cut superfluous laterals. Probably, too, there will be obvious loss of vigour in the whole branch beyond a certain strong lateral. In that case, remove the part that is losing vigour. Only good, strong, healthy, vigorous growth will remain; this must be shortened.

This is where the term "light pruning" applies, not to the number of branches removed, but to the cutting of those branches that are retained. Simply shorten them to a good well-developed growth-bud, which points outwards and upwards. If in any doubt as to which of two buds to choose, always err on the safe side by cutting to the upper one.

There is no difference whatever in the manner of pruning bushes and standards. The latter should be regarded merely as bushes budded on a longer stock. Most standards have two buddings; twelve months after planting, both of them will have grown, but usually one is more advanced than the other. The weaker budding should be removed with a saw. If it is the upper one, the saw-cut is made through the stock just above the lower budding and in a sloping direction downwards and away from the budding. If the lower budding is the weaker, it should be removed by a vertical saw-cut.

Most growers favour light pruning of newly-planted roses after they have shot. A cut is made to a bud that is pointing outwards, low down on the branches.

After a rose has grown for one year it is due for its first conventional pruning. The growth present at the time of planting will usually have become weak and been superseded by other base-shoots. Its removal is the most important part of the pruning of such a plant

Pruning Floribundas And Polyanthas

Floribundas (Hybrid Polyanthas) should be pruned in the same manner as bushes, or standards of Hybrid Teas.

Grandifloras need similar pruning.

Polyanthas of the Orleans type should be cut down almost to soil level, irrespective of growth-buds. This procedure may appear ruthless, but the next year's plant is always made up entirely of new base-shoots. Any of the previous year's remaining growth lacks vigour, looks very untidy, and bears very few flowers.

Pruning Climbers

In the case of climbers, as in bushes and standards, first remove all dead and worn-out wood. This process will usually entail untying and cutting out canes that have reached two, three, or more years of age; when dealing with vigorous climbers this is no small job. Sometimes two or three hours will be spent removing useless wood from one large climber.

There remain a number of newly grown canes, some of last year's with lateral growths, and occasionally a few of the previous year's growth. The older canes often have a debilitated distal part, which should be cut away. Laterals are of two kinds long climbing shoots without a terminal bud, and those that have flowered. The climbing lateral should be treated just as a new climbing shoot from the base of the plant. The lateral that has flowered should be shortened to two or three eyes. New canes should be shortened to hard wood and a well-developed bud. If the whole shoot is young, soft, and sappy it may be removed at the base except in very young plants; then it should be carefully retained and sheltered.

All canes should be tied down fanwise on the fence or trellis. They should not be bent too low, for this may break strong shoots. In any case, no cane will flourish if too low. Pillar roses should be similarly pruned, and twined loosely round their supports.

Pruning Wichuraiana Ramblers

With the exception of Paul's Scarlet Climber, the Hybrid Wichuraiana ramblers popular in Australia bloom only on wood grown the previous year. All growths that have bloomed should have been removed soon after blooming in the spring, for they usually die within a few months. The long new growths should be secured to their supports. If unpruned, these roses will make new canes covering dense masses of dead canes of former years' growth. Australia Felix, Borderer, and Anne Vanderbilt could justly be called dwarf Wichuraiana Hybrids. They should be pruned as Hybrid Teas.

Pruning Rose Hedges

The pruning of rose hedges depends largely on the variety of rose grown and the wishes of the grower. R. chinensis can be neatly trimmed like privet to almost any shape, and to any height from three to six feet. Mermaid, Lorraine Lee, Mrs Russell Grimwade, and Busybody can be treated in the same way, but are not quite as easily shaped. In pruning other rose hedges some regard must be paid to cutting the plants to the general shape of the hedge, but there is no need to prune each individual plant as one does in the case of roses in garden beds.

The new type of roses suited to hedge making, such as Berlin, Bonn, Elmshorn and Grandmaster may be pruned in the same manner as Lorraine Lee.

After pruning any rose, clip off all but the heel or petiole of the remaining leaves. Do not tear them off, because if any leaf is still firmly fixed to the branch, the growth-bud that it shelters is immature and not yet ready to be exposed to winter conditions. The heel of the leaf will later drop off.

Secateurs must be kept sharp and clean. Wipe sap from the blades before putting them away at any time. All cuts should be made with the cutting-blade nearest to the base of the plant: this will leave a nice clean edge to each cut. Any bruising done by the non-cutting blade of the secateurs will be on the part of the branch removed.

Gather up all leaves and trimmings. On them will be thousands of spores of rose diseases, particularly black spot and mildew, as well as aphis eggs. Most growers burn all this refuse and later spread the ash on the rose beds or the compost heap. If it is put direct into the compost heap, the heat generated in the heap will kill the diseases, but be careful to put it well into the centre. Burning is the more reliable way of killing disease spores and is to be advised except where composting can be done in large heaps and left for at least two years.

Winter-blooming roses must not be pruned in the winter, for this would remove all the young flowering growth. They give best results if fairly heavily trimmed in March. All dead and sickly wood should be kept out of them, and an overhaul, by way of thinning out surplus branches, may be done every two or three years. Never remove remaining leaves.

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