How to prune your roses
One of the great things about Flower Carpet® roses is that they don’t require any fancy rose pruning. Unlike most roses, you don’t have to worry about where you’re cutting along the stem or about pruning them any particular way. You can simply use pruners or even hedge clippers – which ever is easier for you. Just cut the Flower Carpet roses back to about 1/3 of their size or more. Cutting them back will ensure a fuller and denser growth for the upcoming season, as well as loads of blooms.
Below are the Flower Carpet roses in our Australian Trial Gardens after their annual July/August cut-back. Four weeks after their annual spring cut back they’re already putting out loads of new growth. And 5 months later, they’re still in full bloom!
When to cut them back . . .
The best time to cut back your Flower Carpet roses is in mid-winter to early spring which, depending upon your location, can be anytime between late-Feb and mid-April in the Northern Hemisphere and in July – mid September in the Southern Hemisphere.
If you live in a warmer climate you’ll probably be dealing with plants that are still green and possibly even still in bloom. Don’t worry though . . . pruning them will stimulate growth and generate more blooms. If you can easily identify any dead stems, cut those right back to the ground.
In colder climates, if it’s been a really harsh winter and depending on how much snow cover you’ve had, you may find that most branches have died back to about 3-4 inches from the ground. This is normal for USDA Zones 5 and colder. If that’s the case, you can cut them back to a few inches and they’ll still reward you with loads of blooms, starting around early summer and lasting through the first few frosts. Once they start to green up, you’ll be to identify any totally dead branches. Those can be cut back to ground level.
After pruning your Flower Carpet roses, pull away any old dead leaves and mulch to get rid of any soil fungal infestations. Give them a good feeding of controlled-release fertiliser or something like Espoma’s Rose Food and that’s all you’ll need to do to get them started for another season of blooms!
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