Advice
RHS Help & Advice
Pruning climbing roses
With a little patience and know-how, a spectacular display can easily be achieved by pruning
Getting started
The secret to making the most of the flowering of climbing roses is to train as much growth as near horizontal as possible. If stems are allowed to grow directly upwards they become bare at the base and flowers are borne high up.
Climbing roses are not self-clinging and need a suitable support of trellis or horizontal wires to which the shoots can be tied. Set the lowest wire 45cm (18in) off the ground and space subsequent wires 30cm (12in) apart (right). If training plants up pillars, arches or pergolas, twist the main shoots gently around the uprights to encourage flowering shoots to form low down.
Climbers are sold with much longer shoots than other roses and these should not be pruned except to remove damaged growth. Fan out the main stems, spacing them evenly, and tie-in sideshoots to the horizontal wires as they develop to form a well-structured framework (right). If the main stems are slow to branch, tip-prune them to the first strong bud (right) to encourage sideshoots, otherwise leave them to fill the available space.
At this stage no other pruning is necessary, except to remove dead, damaged, diseased or spindly growth. Deadhead as necessary to maintain flowering.
Once established
When the rose is established and has filled the space available, excessive growth can be pruned back at any time. In late autumn or winter, flowered sideshoots can be pruned back by two-thirds of their length (right).
In later years one or two older stems should be cut back harder to a lower new shoot, which can be tied in to fill the gap created. On old climbers, unproductive main stems should be cut to the base to stimulate new growth (right).
For more details on special training of rose climbers, consult the RHS Pruning and Training manual pp319-25. RHS Pruning and Training by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce, published by Dorling Kindersley; £16.99 (paperback); ISBN 1405315261
Tony Dickerson