When the buds swell, it's time for a nurturing spring pruning. Pruning maintains and improves the health of roses, promotes flowering and prolongs the life of the flowers - this also applies to rose hedges, of course. However, keep in mind that these romantic hedges cannot be shaped accurately like box or conifer hedges.
Wild roses require little care
Wild roses require little care
When it comes to pruning, wild roses and their hybrids are the easiest to manage because you can just let these roses grow - wild roses should generally be pruned as little as possible. On the other hand, you can dare to cut wild roses harder, the robust roses will cope with it and will always sprout again. Wild roses have the ability to constantly rejuvenate from the base, adapted to regular game browsing.
Watch the eyes when cutting
The swelling eyes at the ends of the shoots are the first to be noticed in spring. The underlying, so-called “sleeping eyes” sprout later. They are initially only recognizable as a faint horizontal line. A pruning should promote the formation of new shoots from the lower dormant eyes. Cut about five to ten millimeters above an outward-pointing eye, then the new shoot will also grow outwards. The technique keeps the bush open and airy and thus prevents fungal diseases - particularly important in a densely growing rose hedge.
Different pruning rules for different types of roses
Repeat-blooming roses bloom on this year's shoots, i. H. on one year old wood. A cut in the spring promotes new shoots and thus the abundance of flowers in the same year. Once-blooming roses bloom on the shoots they formed the previous year and on perennial wood. They are therefore only cut immediately after flowering. Then they develop new shoots that can mature well until winter.
Thin out and rejuvenate rose hedges
For all roses, spring pruning begins with a thinning cut. First, cut back all frostbitten and diseased shoots to the base or healthy wood. Healthy shoots show a whitish pith, diseased ones a brownish one. Then remove all thin and weak shoots, the stronger ones can carry the flowers better. Crossing shoots should also be cut back, because they hurt each other. Therefore, remove the weaker one.
tips
Furthermore, cut all three to five-year-old branches - you can recognize them by their bark - back to the ground. The cut stimulates the formation of new shoots.