
	Intro: Before you begin Step 1: Choose the right rose Step 2: Prepare the ground Step 3: Plant the rose bush Step 4: Prune Step 5: Keep your roses happy








	Always use sharp, hand-held pruning shears for the majority of your pruning. (Use long-handled shears to cut canes you can't reach.) Dull pruners only crush the cane, which leaves it vulnerable to disease and insects. If you prune a cane that's larger in diameter than a pencil, paint the tip with clear nail polish to keep pests from burrowing in.

2torial #0619:
Learn2 Grow Beautiful Roses (continued)

Prune

Pruning benefits your roses in several ways. It encourages healthy growth and creates more flowers, shapes the plant to increase air circulation, and eliminates damaged or diseased canes.

To prune properly, find an outward-facing cane bud. A quarter-inch (.6 centimeter) above that bud, make a 45-degree angle cut that faces downward and inward, toward the center of the plant. Choosing an outward-facing bud encourages new canes to grow outward, leaving the center clear for circulating air.

There are three times of year in which to prune: late fall, early spring, and during the growing season. The pruning in each season has a different goal:

Late fall pruning isn't always necessary, and its goal is mainly to cut back extra-tall canes that might whip around in winter winds and disturb the roots. If you decide to prune at this time of year, wait until several frosts have passed, so you can be sure the plant is dormant and your pruning doesn't stimulate new growth instead of letting the plant harden itself for winter.
Early spring pruning encourages growth, and is the most severe pruning practiced all year. It should take place about 4 weeks before the last frost for your area usually occurs. During this pruning, remove dead, weak, or diseased canes, cut back canes that rub against each other, cut back canes in the center of the plant to open up this area for increased air circulation, and prune back whatever's left about a quarter-inch (.6 centimeter) above an outward-facing bud. You can tell a cane is dead or diseased if it looks gray, is spindly, or is a pale, sickly green or yellow.
Growing season pruning is mostly a matter of "deadheading," or cutting off flowers as soon as they begin to fade to encourage the blossoming of new flowers. To properly deadhead or cut flowers for your home, cut the flower stem at a 45-degree angle inward, about a quarter-inch (.6 centimeter) above the first leaf with five leaflets.

During the growing season, you should also keep cutting out dead or diseased canes, and lightly shape the bush if you like.

Step 5