Published: 14 February 2025

Do you want healthier, more vibrant roses this year? We asked the gardening team here at Holker Hall & Gardens to give us their top rose pruning techniques and essential rose maintenance tips to help you keep your garden looking beautiful all season. Gardening team member Chloe took us through the process.

Holker Gardening Team member, Chloe

When’s the best time?

The best time to prune most roses is late winter, around February or March, just before new growth begins. At Holker we tend to start our rose pruning in January and continue through to early March.

The tools of the trade

Before we start, here are the tools we use when rose pruning:
• Sharp pruning shears (for small stems
• Loppers or pruning saw (for thick branches)
• Gardening gloves (to protect from thorns)
• Disinfectant (to clean tools and prevent disease spread)
• String (for tying)

Pruning roses

Six steps to pruning success

Now, let’s go step by step through the best rose pruning techniques to encourage healthy growth and beautiful blooms:

  1. First remove dead, diseased, or crossing stems to improve air circulation and reduce the risk of fungal infections.
  2. Then cut back to healthy white pith—if you see dark or diseased wood, keep trimming until you reach fresh, healthy growth.
  3. On established roses, remove poorly flowering old wood and any dead stubs that aren’t producing new shoots.
  4. Suckers are fast-growing shoots from the rootstock that steal energy from your rose. Trace them back to the root and pull them off instead of cutting them.
  5. Prune just above a bud, cutting at a downward angle to prevent water from collecting and causing rot
  6. Cut just above an outward-facing bud to promote an open, well-structured plant. When we’re pruning climbers we prune to a bud which is facing the direction we want the plant to grow
Chloe adding mulch to the pruned rose.

Chloe’s bonus tips

Pruning is just one part of rose maintenance. Here are some extra tips to keep your roses thriving all season.

• Fertilise and Mulch: Use a rose-specific fertiliser every 4-6 weeks during the growing season. We use a mulch of well-rotted farmyard manure and tend to stay away from synthetic fertilisers.

• Water deeply: Roses need plenty of water whilst establishing, especially in dry spells.

Thanks Chloe. By following these rose pruning techniques and maintenance tips, your roses will be healthier, stronger, and more vibrant. Come and see ours at Holker Hall & Gardens in Spring when they start blooming – we open for the season on March 21st.