Pruning rose bushes in March is an essential step to guarantee abundant and spectacular flowering throughout the summer season.
As spring timidly approaches, gardening enthusiasts prepare for an activity that is crucial for the health and beauty of their trees and shrubs: pruning. Considered a fundamental step by horticultural experts in the maintenance of their garden, pruning must be carried out now. And this is particularly the case for a star shrub in our gardens and outdoors: the rose bush.
We interviewed a garden specialist, Jean-Charles Chapuis from Fiskars, a French gardening tool manufacturer. He explains to us that “unlike certain shrubs which require little or no pruning, the rose bush needs to be pruned every year if we want to keep it in good health, with harmonious growth and above all observe abundant flowering year round. after year.”
The old adage “prune early, prune late, nothing beats pruning in March” is appropriate for rose bushes that need to be pruned at the end of winter, when “the growth cycle restarts” explains our specialist. Pruning your rose bushes above a dormant bud will help stimulate the resumption of flowering.
This gesture is essential, insists Jean-Charles Chapuis. “If you don’t prune your rose bushes, they will gradually become exhausted. In fact, the growth of the small wood gradually suffocates the plant, preventing light from penetrating the center of the plant.” He goes on to explain: “If you don’t remove the spent flowers, they will turn into fruit, thus using the plant’s energy unnecessarily to the detriment of the growth of new, fresh, flower-bearing branches.”
Be careful, not all rose bushes are pruned in March. It is necessary to differentiate between everbearing rose bushes (shrub rose bushes or bush rose bushes, climbing rose bushes or landscape rose bushes), which are pruned in March, and non-everbearing rose bushes (often so-called old or botanical rose bush varieties with single flowers) explains the expert Jean. -Charles Chapuis. Pruning the latter is recommended just after spring flowering in August.
To successfully prune your rose bush, here are the steps to follow:
- Choose the right tool. Our specialist advises you to use pruning shears for most pruning operations on green wood branches, a branch cutter for branches that are too thick, too old, dead or when they are difficult to access (in the center of the shrub).
- Disinfect the blade of your tool to avoid any spread of cryptogamic or fungal diseases. Then sharpen your blade to obtain a precise and clean cut, thus promoting faster healing.
- Remove dead wood and damaged stems.
- Prune your rose bush.
- When cutting above the eye, be sure to “cut at 1 cm at an angle, with the slope facing away from the eye.” This will prevent water from flowing onto the bud.
This will give you every chance of obtaining magnificent roses in the summer.