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We prune roses for several reasons. Regular pruning helps to keep their size under control, though we must remember that all roses have a predetermined 'ideal' size. We also prune to shape the plant. We take out dead stems to prevent the dead area spreading back into healthy stems. But, ironically, the main reason we prune is to make the rose more vigorous.
This may seem odd but, when a rose bush has to put its energy into growing hundreds of buds, each will only make a small amount of growth. After pruning, with far fewer buds, each shoot has more vigour. That is why it is usual to prune Large Flowered (Hybrid Tea) roses, which have few, large blooms, more severely than Cluster Flowered (Floribunda) roses, which are valued more for their prolific, but smaller, flowers.
Pruning is also used to keep the bush young. Rose flowers are carried on the new stems so there's no point in having 60cm (2ft) of gnarled, woody stem at the base. Every year you can cut out some of this ugly, old growth so that nothing, apart from the base, is more than four years old.
