Gardening expert Fiona Mitchell sought advice online. Rose lovers know that these captivating blooms, with their vibrant array of colours and variety of shapes, are real showstoppers in any garden. But let's not forget, growing a beautiful rose bush is no walk in the park.
Key to keeping roses radiant and healthy is mastering the pruning process. If you're feeling anxious about taking shears to your shrubs, take comfort in knowing that roses are tough cookies they bounce back even from the most ham-fisted of pruning attempts. For those harboring doubts on when to wield the pruning shears, Emma Sandford reached out for advice on the popular Gardening UK Facebook forum: "When should I prune my roses? They have gone horrible with the weather and need cutting right back.
" READ MORE: Neglected hydrangeas will come back bigger and stronger with a 5-minute gardening task Emma's plea didn't fall on deaf ears; it sparked a flurry of over 80 replies, with many green thumbs agreeing that it's best to hold off on the pruning until the latter part of winter, reports the Express . Amongst the virtual conversation, Sarah Anne contributed her experience: "I gave mine a really good prune in February and they are the best they've ever been! Only had to deadhead them this year." Richard Weaving also threw in his two pence worth of guidance, advising: "Light trim any time.
As far as pruning goes though, wait until February. Certainly don't be trimming in summer." Rachel Ellis shared a top tip that did wonders for her roses: "[The] best tip I had for my roses was to cut them back to where you count five leaves.
Don't know why but mine have been shooting out lots of new buds since I've been doing this." And Shannon Fields weighed in with her experience: "The best time to prune them is in February. My roses have been flowering like crazy since pruning them.
" Jasmine Bartlett revealed her unexpected gardening success: "My roses were awful and woody. I wanted to dig them out but they were too well planted so I cut them off level with the ground around February/March time." "To my surprise, they grew back again with young strong stems and flowered beautifully with amazing blooms.
Only took two minutes." Giving his two pence on the matter, Mark Wilson suggested: "It's a bit early here in the UK, yet I'm still deadheading. I would wait until October then reduce by half and tidy and then again in February time.
" Fiona Mitchell provided step-by-step instructions, sharing: "The first pruning period is in the late autumn, just when growth has stopped and the second pruning period is in late winter/early spring - just before the new growth starts." "If you cut back your rose bush quite hard in early spring, this will force it to send out new shoots (branches)." Echoing expert guidance, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) recommends that the ideal time for cutting back roses is during late winter as they begin to wake from their dormancy, "usually mid-February in the south, but in northern and colder areas wait until March".
In the interim, green-fingered individuals can keep active by delicately deadheading their prized rose bushes throughout the summer after flowering occurs. Deadheading implies carefully removing spent blooms to encourage the bush to divert energy into fostering new flowers..
