How, When, Best Time to prune/cut back tea roses?

Question

I have a row of 3 different tea roses(?), about 20-25 feet long. They were here when we bought the house over 17 years ago. I have never pruned/cut these. How far down can I cut these, when is the best time to do it.

Answer 1

I have been raising flowers to sell at my house, not professionally, for 13 years, and it is best to prune them about Feb. back to about 2 ft tall. You want to prune out any branches that are growing cross wise. But, I have found that I really can hack away at them any time and they do just fine. It is July here in zone 7 in Or and if they get leggy I just hack away on them I find almost any flower that grows like a rose is actually happier because it forces the strength of the rose bush back into the roots which in the long run is where you want it. I am more a flower farmer than a yard decor person so it depends on if you want your yard to be blooming and perfect or if you want to do what is best for the rose bush in the long run. All rose bushes in my experience if stressed, like most flowers, will resort back to the most basic/ original color. I had a beautiful colored rose and let it get leggy, un cared for and it resorted back to the widely seen magenta type that I didn't want, so I just took it out. Tulips and almost all flowers will stress and then resort back to the basic from which they were hybridized. Some won't as they are now developing hydrangeas that will stay one color, and I'm sure there are many others like this,but if you see a tulip that is half yellow and half red bloom it is either resorting back or has a virus. Most people think it is pretty but the tulip bulb is telling you it is not happy unless it is like a parrot tulip and is meant to be that way. OK ? People are afraid to hack on their flower bushes, and for the ones who bloom over and over like roses, they are happier to have the strength of their plant forced back into the root system. At the end of the flowering season, as it freezes here, we are advised to let the flowers of roses go into rose hips, (seed) and that will tell the rose bush it is time to go toward dormant. always always dead head any flowering plant that you want to continue to bloom because the energy it takes the flower to go to seed as all flowers do, zaps your flower plant or bulb of its energy and it won't produce more flowers or not as many or as lush. You can also "groom" your flowering plants by cutting off many of the small heads that are getting ready to bloom. I just did this on my Shasta daisy, as they are prolific bloomers and then the heads I left opened more quickly and were more pretty and lush. THis is what they do in the green houses with those plants you buy potted in the store for mothers day and with Christmas trees. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

best time is during non growing season, but if ur in a hurry, only take off 25%